Singer IU is now having a title of 'global music queen'.

On February 17, Spotify, the world's largest audio and music streaming platform, compiled the rankings of the most streaming artists and the most streaming music albums in commemoration of the first anniversary of the launch of Korea. 

Based on the aggregated results from February 1, 2021 to February 1, 2022, the 'Spotify 1st Anniversary' playlist, which contains the 50 most-streamed music tracks, was also newly established.

Among the playlists, IU's songs are 'Lilac', 'Celebrity', '8', 'Coin', and 'Nakka' as a collaboration with AKMU. According to Spotify, IU was named the most streamed female artist. In the top 5, BTS was the only Korean singer, and Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and The Weekend filled the rankings. IU's album 'Lilac' and her song 'Lilac' of the same name were ranked 4th on the album and 7th on the music chart.

On YouTube Music, her tvN 'Crash Landing on You' OST is gaining popularity again after the wedding announcement of actors Hyun Bin and Son Ye Jin. Among the OSTs, 'I Give You My Heart' sung by IU is the representative. Melon's daily and weekly OST charts are also drawing a reverse running graph. 

The chart released by YouTube Music showed that IU's songs are gaining popularity in various countries following Korea, such as India, Indonesia, Thailand, Argentina, Japan, the Philippines, and the United States. Asian media such as Indian version of Rolling Stone, the Philippines and Bangkok also published articles paying attention to IU's OST.

In the '11th 2022 Overseas Hallyu Survey Results Report' published by the Korea International Cultural Exchange Agency, IU was selected as the best singer in the Chinese market. In her overall ranking, IU also took 3rd place, drawing attention for her unrivaled performance as a solo female singer.

Kim Jaejoong, the famous singer and businessman, recently revealed that he was the victim of a hacking incident involving his Kakao Pay account, raising concerns about his financial safety.

On May 7, the star shared his experience with fans via the official fan platform From, explaining that his Kakao Pay account was hacked and the password was changed without his permission. As a result, Kim Jaejoong was locked out of his account and couldn’t access any of his information, which made the situation even more difficult to handle.

He expressed frustration over the customer service process, sharing that he had contacted support multiple times for help. Despite talking to a representative for over an hour, the issue wasn’t resolved. Kim Jaejoong pointed out a flaw in the system: “The hacker changed the password, so why do I, the victim, have to prove everything?”

Things only got worse when he was told he would be connected to another representative, only for it to be the same department. He admitted, “I was mentally crushed” after realizing the lack of progress. While he acknowledged that the customer service staff was working hard, he couldn’t help but feel that the system was too weak to handle such incidents.

Fortunately, after two days of struggle, the situation was finally resolved. Kim Jae Joong confirmed that his account was closed and deleted, and luckily, no financial loss occurred. “It was truly a terrifying day,” he shared, relieved that the problem was fixed.

Despite the scary experience, Kim Jaejoong continues to thrive in other areas of his career. In 2023, he co-founded iNKODE Entertainment, a company where he works as a producer and businessman. iNKODE Entertainment currently manages artists like Oh Ji Yul, Jung Si Hyun, Lee Ji Hoon, and others. Kim Jae joong also launched the 7-member girl group Say My Name last year.

Even though he’s facing challenges, Kim Jaejoong’s career remains strong, and he’s taking steps to ensure this type of situation doesn’t happen again.

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