Blackpink Reached A New Hot 100 Peak With ‘Sour Candy,’ But Their Next Single Could Chart Even Higher

Blackpink season is here. 

The Korean pop quartet earned its biggest hit on the Billboard Hot 100 to date this week with its Lady Gaga collaboration, “Sour Candy,” off the superstar’s chart-topping new album, Chromatica. The song debuted at No. 33, a fitting return for the girl group, which hadn’t released a single since “Kill this Love” in April 2019. And with a multi-pronged rollout leading up to their first full-length album, Blackpink could soon climb even higher up the Hot 100 with their next single. 

Last month, Blackpink’s Korean label, YG Entertainment GDEN , announced that the group would release its debut full-length in September. The 10-song album will be preceded by two singles this summer, the first of which comes out on June 26. It will mark Blackpink’s first single as a lead artist in nearly 15 months, an unprecedented wait time for K-pop artists, who sometimes release multiple albums in a year. Fans have made their displeasure clear, demanding better promotion from YG Entertainment last December. They have long been clamoring for new Blackpink music, and that excitement manifested itself in a robust Hot 100 debut for “Sour Candy.”

It was a smart move for Blackpink to informally begin their comeback by guesting on a Gaga song. The quartet already had a large diehard fan base that was eager for new music, and “Sour Candy” helped win over plenty of Gaga fans who were equally excited to hear her first studio album in four years. (Chromatica gave Gaga her best sales week since Born This Way.) But while “Sour Candy” was an overwhelming success, it also showed just a sliver of Blackpink’s full potential. It’s more of a cameo than a full-fledged collaboration, and the group’s brief performance doesn’t do much to showcase each member’s personality. Still, it accomplished its goal: whet fans’ appetites while piquing new listeners’ interests before the next single drops.

“Sour Candy” also lacked the element that has arguably been most crucial to the success of past Blackpink singles: a music video. The quartet has an excellent track record on that front, previously setting 24-hour YouTube records with “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” and “Kill this Love” (BTS’ “Boy with Luv” has since claimed the 24-hour YouTube record); the former also became the first video by a K-pop group to surpass 1 billion views. Those videos both came out on the same day as their respective singles, supercharging their first-week streams across all platforms. YG confirmed last month that Blackpink was finishing visuals and choreography for their new album; if they release a music video in tandem with their next single, they’ll be able to capitalize on their “Sour Candy” momentum while also multiplying their first-week streams exponentially.

Blackpink has been on an upward U.S. trajectory for the last two years. They earned their first Hot 100 entry with “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du,” which debuted and peaked at No. 55; the following year, “Kill this Love” debuted and peaked at No. 41. Hot on the heels of “Sour Candy” and with a much bigger Spotify audience in tow, the group has the potential to shoot even higher with its next single; a Top 30 hit on the Hot 100 doesn’t seem out of reach.

The quartet’s staggered album rollout does differ notably from previous releases, which saw Blackpink releasing their lead single and accompanying EP simultaneously. It’s possible that dropping two pre-release singles could dilute their Hot 100 performances. But given how Blackpink fans mobilized around “Sour Candy,” that seems unlikely. The Lady Gaga collaboration debuted at No. 6 on the global Spotify chart and No. 12 in the United States, giving Blackpink the biggest debut for a girl group in Spotify history. The band’s next single won’t have Gaga’s muscle behind it, but a music video could make up for lost audio streams.

For at least the past year, Blackpink has been on the cusp of superstar status in the United States. The record-breaking videos, progressively higher chart placements and rapturously received Coachella 2019 performances all hinted at stateside domination—if only they would release an album. Now, with their highly anticipated full-length on the horizon and their biggest pop collaboration to date in the rearview, Blackpink has set the stage for what could be their biggest Hot 100 hit to date. If their comeback plays out as expected, the girl group could soon make the success of “Sour Candy” look like a mere palette cleanser before the main course.

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