Red Velvet Singles Charting Performance on GAON Digital Top 100 (debut to 2021)

    Finally got around to compiling the chart data for Red Velvet's singles. This chart shows you how long a song stayed on the GAON Digital Top 100 chart. (Note that this only tracks digital performance - streams, downloads, etc., not physical album sales.) The solid lines are for "Red" style tracks, and the dashed lines are for "Velvet" style tracks. Zimzalabim is weird, so it gets it's own pattern.


    Red Velvet Singles charting 23 Jun 2021.png


    Note: For those who may not know or who may be confused between GAON and Melon, GAON is the official record chart for the music industry of Korea. Melon is just one of the digital streaming platforms in Korea, albeit the most popular one. A good analogy would be GAON = Billboard, while Melon = Spotify. GAON combines data from all the major Korean digital music platforms, including Melon, Flo, Genie, Bugs, Naver, Kakao Music, etc.


    Here's the breakdown of how long each track stayed on the Top 100:



    Song No. of weeks on Top 100 chart
    Happiness 7
    Be Natural 1
    Automatic 2
    Ice Cream Cake 17
    Dumb Dumb 28
    One of These Nights 5
    Russian Roulette 37
    Rookie 28
    Red Flavor 64
    Peek-a-Boo 26
    Bad Boy 31
    Power Up 21
    Really Bad Boy 9
    Zimzalabim 12
    Umpah Umpah 10
    Psycho 50




    Average number of weeks for all Red Velvet singles = 21.75 weeks on chart

    Average for "Red" tracks (not counting ZZB) = 26.5 weeks on chart

    Average for "Velvet" tracks (not counting ZZB) = 17.71 weeks on chart



    Things I noticed while doing this:

    • Red Velvet tracks are hard to predict. There are some tracks which drop like a rock, and some which do average to great. There was a clear peak in Red Velvets' discography from about Russian Roulette to Power Up where they were doing very well, the pinnacle of which was Red Flavor. But early tracks charted poorly, and later tracks also charted poorly (with the exception of Psycho).
    • In general, there seems to be a preference for "Red" concept tracks over "Velvet" concept tracks.
    • Red Flavor's behaviour on the charts is quite interesting in that it hung around the 40s to 60s range for a very long time... more than half its' lifespan. I've also noticed that whenever Red Velvet released either a disappointing track or even just a Velvet track that was mildly okay, Red Flavor would rise in the charts again (even in the 100 to 200 chart positions). It seems like a lot of people would turn to Red Flavor as their go-to song for whenever Red Velvet's latest song didn't match their preferences. It's clearly Red Velvet's signature song.
    • I'm wondering whether the huge difference in chart performance may have something to do with the composers / producers behind the tracks, but I haven't gotten around to matching the different tracks to the producers yet to see if there's a pattern.


    What about you Reveluvs out there? Are there any other interesting patterns you spotted?

    thank you! Really appreciate your effort

    As expected, Psycho, RF and RR their biggest hits, great!


    And people said Umpahx2 and ZZLB were hits...

    They definitely isnt


    And Power up, at best, a small hit. I dont see consistency with summer hits like many claimed

    No one was saying Umpah and ZZB were hits.

    Is he.....you know?

    투모로우바이투게더 ᛫ 방탄
    레드벨벳 ᛫ 엑소 ᛫ 샤이니 ᛫ 에이티즈

    Quote from MassiveKpopFan

    No one was saying Umpah and ZZB were hits.

    Actually many told me that RV are the summer queens because they had a series of summer hits, but from the charting, the real summer hit is RF only


    PU barely crossed metrics to be considered a moderate hit, umpahx2 totally not.


    Not that it matters though

    Someone already claiming that title from Sistar

    Because Red Velvet stayed in the 2 years with Red Flavor. They continued with Power Up again with a summer hit. The Summer queen of 2nd generation generation was Sistar. 3rd generation Red Velvet for sure.

    Quote from Selynn

    Because Red Velvet stayed in the 2 years with Red Flavor. They continued with Power Up again with a summer hit. The Summer queen of 2nd generation generation was Sistar. 3rd generation Red Velvet for sure.

    Honestly, i dont think so.

    AIIYL also stayed almost same time on chart + forever young being much much bigger than power up. No one says they are summer queens.


    Sistar was undisputed because they were consistent, all summer songs were hits. But not the same for RV. It is really a stretch. Even their darker songs perform better

    Quote from gerrard174

    Honestly, i dont think so.

    AIIYL also stayed almost same time on chart + forever young being much much bigger than power up. No one says they are summer queens.


    Sistar was undisputed because they were consistent, all summer songs were hits. But not the same for RV. It is really a stretch. Even their darker songs perform better

    Blackpink song is not summer song.

    Quote from gerrard174

    Honestly, i dont think so.

    AIIYL also stayed almost same time on chart + forever young being much much bigger than power up. No one says they are summer queens.


    Sistar was undisputed because they were consistent, all summer songs were hits. But not the same for RV. It is really a stretch. Even their darker songs perform better

    Not every hit is about longevity, just like not every succes is about digitals.


    Power Up is the only song by Red Velvet, even more, the only song by an SM group that got a PAK.

    It's also not just K-pop fans that called Red Velvet 'Summer Queens', they were also called 'Summer Queens' by various Korean media, 1 of the many titles that South Korea liked to give Red Velvet.


    I liked how someone on this forum described it once: Sistar are the Summer Queens, but Red Velvet are the Summer Princesses.


    Personally, I don't give a f**k about the whole Summer Queens thing - or I give as much about it as stuff like 'National Hit', 'it girl', etc - they're all just things that ifans love to obsess and have petty fights about.

    That said, you won't see me try to rain on other K-pop fans' parade or buzzkill into threads where fans love to praise their bias groups or idols with all kinda titles, deserved or not. Let fans celebrate their bias however they like, but that's me.


    Unless the discussion is specifically about the title things, then I don't mind joining in.

    Quote from gerrard174

    The typical stereotype that only beach and swimsuits are summer songs 😅

    nah, you never listen to red flavor

    red flavor is a bright and cheerful song, from sound to lyric

    did you know how red velvet and heize chart on summer 2017? if you knew then you korean is often listen the song based on mood

    but then again, you only stan blackpink that only has one concept so i understand you call summer song only based on when the song released lol

    Quote from Theo35

    nah, you never listen to red flavor

    red flavor is a bright and cheerful song, from sound to lyric

    did you know how red velvet and heize chart on summer 2017? if you knew then you korean is often listen the song based on mood

    but then again, you only stan blackpink that only has one concept so i understand you call summer song only based on when the song released lol

    Funny that coming from u. Listening to only blackpink? I have been listening to kpop since big bang and wonder girls day before most of u jump on kpop bandwagon. Red flavor was one of my most favourite song from RV until pyscho comes.


    I dont really need to argue on what kind of songs are summer songs. The chart speaks on its own. Forever young and AIIYL both recharted on melon during summer every year. Go see the chart thread maybe before saying what u THINK is correct

    Quote from Theo35

    nah, you never listen to red flavor

    red flavor is a bright and cheerful song, from sound to lyric

    did you know how red velvet and heize chart on summer 2017? if you knew then you korean is often listen the song based on mood

    but then again, you only stan blackpink that only has one concept so i understand you call summer song only based on when the song released lol

    I think the best song that sounds like a mood is Busker Busker's Cherry Blossom Ending. When I heard I realized why everyone knows it.

    also the blackpink shade :waterr:let's not troll

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