BTS's Jin’s solo track ‘The Astronaut’ is making waves on global music charts.

Released on October 28, 2022, as a gift to fans before his enlistment, ‘The Astronaut’ reached over 450 million streams on Spotify by July 13. The song quickly hit big milestones: 50 million streams in 22 days, 60 million in 29 days, 70 million in 37 days, and 90 million in 57 days.

It reached 100 million streams in just 72 days, making it the fastest Korean male K-pop solo track to do so.

On December 6, just two days after Jin’s birthday, ‘The Astronaut’ surpassed 300 million streams. The track continued to perform well, hitting 400 million streams on May 17.

The World Music Awards congratulated Jin, saying, “Jin’s ‘The Astronaut’ has surpassed 400 million streams on Spotify, marking a major achievement for him as a solo artist.”

As of July 19, ‘The Astronaut’ has over 454.56 million streams. It also hit 17 million searches on Shazam, the world’s largest music search platform, reaching 17,077,710 searches by 6 AM on July 19.

Jin is the only K-pop solo artist to have two solo songs with over 13 million Shazam searches: ‘The Astronaut’ and his first solo OST ‘Yours.’

‘The Astronaut’ also made history by topping Shazam’s ‘Global TOP 200’ chart for 129 days, breaking the previous record of 102 days held by ‘Yours.’ This makes it the longest time a K-pop song has been number one.

Jin remains the only K-pop solo artist with two solo tracks reaching number one and showing his global impact with a record 60 consecutive days at the top.

On July 14, Jin also took part in the torch relay for the '2024 Paris Summer Olympics' in Paris, France, drawing a lot of international media attention upon his return.

Source(1)

Actor Chun Jung Myung has opened up about a devastating betrayal by his former manager, who swindled tens of billions of won from his family. The former manager, who had been trusted like family, is now serving prison time for his actions.

In the December 8 episode of SBS’s My Little Old Boy, Chun Jung Myung shared the shocking details of his financial fraud ordeal with fellow cast members Lee Sang Min and Kim Heechul.

He explained, "I was financially defrauded by the manager I had worked with for 16 years since my debut. He forged documents to steal money and even caused huge financial losses for my parents."

A close source confirmed on December 9, "The manager mentioned on the show ultimately couldn’t repay the damages and is now serving his prison sentence for fraud."

The source also revealed that Chun Jung Myung suffered losses in the tens of billions of won. The emotional toll was severe, leading to social anxiety, and he even considered retiring from the entertainment industry due to the devastating betrayal.

Chun Jung Myung debuted in 1999 with the drama School 2 and became a household name with roles in Beijing, My Love, Fashion 70s, and What's Up Fox? However, after his role in the 2019 drama Urban Cops: KCSI, he suddenly disappeared from the spotlight, sparking concerns from fans.

An entertainment agency CEO weighed in, saying, "Celebrities, especially those with limited real-world experience, are vulnerable to scams because of their public status. Some get trapped and lose vast amounts of money after being used as figureheads."

An entertainment law expert added, "Fraud cases are tricky because proving the intent to steal is difficult. If someone makes an enticing offer, always ask, ‘Why me and not them?’ Skepticism is key."

Source: [1]