Akdong Musician tops charts with debut album ‘Play’

“K-pop Star 2” winners Lee Chan-hyuk, 17, and Lee Soo-hyun, 14, of the brother-sister duo Akdong Musician finally released their debut album “Play” on Monday after taking the “K-pop Star” crown more than a year ago.

Within hours of its release, the album hit the top of the K-pop charts. It took the top 11 spots on Naver’s real-time music chart while a handful of the album’s singles ranked in the Top Ten list on various online charts with the single “200%” topping all nine local charts. 

Chan-hyuk took the wheel as the lyricist, composer and producer of the entire 11-track album, which features three title tracks including the sibling’s selection “Melted,” YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-suk’s track selection “200%” and the final lead track to be selected through fans and the music chart rankings.

The duo took to the stage with its newly released album for the first time on Sunday’s live episode of “K-pop Star 3” and held a special live showcase at Seoul Forest the day before.

It has been reported that Akdong Musician plans to release three official music videos. The music video for “200%” was released first, on the same day as the album release.

The members of Akdong Musician are best known for their creative and light-hearted compositions and once revealed that they have more than 50 original songs. The young teen siblings garnered a huge fan base while competing on “K-pop Star 2,” and the group’s playful tunes such as “Don’t Cross Your Legs,” “A Foreigner’s Confession,” “Crescendo” and “It is Ramen” also landed them on the top of the charts even when they were still competing on the show.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)