Blackpink are music group with highest number of YouTube subscribers

Blackpink (comprising, from left, Lisa, Rose, Jennie and Jisoo) at a performance in Singapore in February.
Blackpink (comprising, from left, Lisa, Rose, Jennie and Jisoo) at a performance in Singapore in February. PHOTO: YG ENTERTAINMENT

SEOUL • There is only one direction for Blackpink and it is up.

Yesterday, the South Korean girl group overtook British boy band One Direction as the music group with the highest number of subscribers on YouTube, reported Korean media.

Blackpink's YouTube channel had 29,903,092 subscribers, as of 1.15pm yesterday, versus 29,889,869 for One Direction, who are on a hiatus.

However, Blackpink still have some way to go before they can catch up with Justin Bieber, who has a lock on the most subscribed music channel on YouTube, with 46.4 million.

But some doubts have also surfaced over whether Blackpink, who debuted in 2016, can stay the course, with member Rose reportedly not happy that their label does not promote her as much as the other three members, in terms of endorsements and appearances.

Rose is working on a single and could be tempted to go solo if the song does well on the charts.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 10, 2019, with the headline Blackpink are music group with highest number of YouTube subscribers. Subscribe