[Today’s K-pop] Stray Kids go gold in US with ‘Maniac’

Stray Kids earned gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America with “Maniac,” according to the organization’s announcement Wednesday in the US.

It is the fourth time the band has gone gold in the US -- after the single “God’s Menu” and the albums “Five-Star” and “Rock-Star.”

“Maniac” fronted the band’s sixth EP “Oddinary” which came out in March 2022 and made a hotshot debut on the Billboard 200, the first of the four for the eight-member act.

Meanwhile, a snippet of the upcoming single “Lose My Breath,” a Charlie Puth collaboration, was unveiled Tuesday raising expectations for the song due out on May 10.

On Sunday, the members wrapped up their first in-person fan event in Japan that drew 160,000 fans in four days, with two in Osaka and two in Saitama.

Ateez adds dates to tour

Ateez added two concerts to its North America tour, announced agency KQ Entertainment on Thursday.

The band is set to visit the region for the tour “Towards the Light: Will to Power” which begins in Tacoma on July 14 and goes live in nine more cities in the US and Canada until Aug. 11. The newly expanded schedule will have the eight members perform twice in both Georgia and Illinois.

Meanwhile, they are bringing out their 10th EP “Golden Hour: Part 1” on May 31 as they told the audience at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival last month. During their performance, a first for a K-pop boy band, leader Hongjoong had a fan in his hand that spelled out the name of the upcoming album.

The extended play comes six months after the second LP “The World Ep Fin: Will” which topped the Billboard 200 and spent five more weeks on the chart.

‘Seven’ from BTS’ Jungkook most-loved song: Billboard

Jungkook of BTS added another title with his solo single “Seven (feat. Latto),” said label Bit Hit Music on Thursday.

The single was No. 1 on “The Hottest Hits Outside the US,” according to Billboard’s “International Power Players List 2024” published Tuesday in the US. The list is based on the streams and digital sales from over 200 regions across the world between April last year and March this year.

“Seven” was dropped in July last year, hailing the solo career of the artist. It topped Billboard’s Hot 100 and stayed on the main singles chart for 15 weeks in total. The single also earned him three Guinness World Records including amassing 1 billion streams on Spotify in the shortest time in the platform’s history.

Viviz to host 1st international tour

Girl group Viviz will kick off its first international tour with a two-day concert held in Seoul on June 1-2, agency Big Planet Made Entertainment said Thursday.

The trio debuted in February 2022 with the EP “Beam of Prism” and released its fourth EP “Versus” in November last year. The main track from the last mini album, “Maniac,” has gone viral recently thanks to the dance challenges online and leaped up on music charts in Korea. The B-side track from the fourth EP “Untie” was also named one of “The 25 Best K-pop Songs of 2023” by NME magazine.

Umji, SinB and Eunha are former members of GFriend, a six-member group that abruptly disbanded in May 2021 about six years after its debut.