BigHit's rookie group CORTIS solidified the title of "this year's best rookie" with overwhelming momentum.
CORTIS (Martin, James, Juhun, Sunghyun, Geonho) had about 2,845,000 followers on the global short-form video platform TikTok and about 2,546,000 followers on Instagram as of noon on the 18th. In just over a month since opening their account, they ranked first in follower count among rookies who debuted this year.
This is evidence that CORTIS resonated with the 10s and 20s generation, the primary consumers of short-form content. The multi-hit nature of songs on their debut album played a big part in this. Dance challenges for the title track "What You Want," the intro "GO!" and the follow-up "FaSHioN" have spread by word of mouth and are trending. In addition, self-produced videos made by the members and their distinctive fashion have spread beyond K-pop fandom into the general public, drawing attention every day.
CORTIS's popularity is reflected on actual charts. According to the latest weekly chart released by Circle Chart on the 18th (tracking period: Sept. 7–13), their debut album "COLOR OUTSIDE LINES" ranked No. 2 on the album chart. With first-week sales (counted from release date) surpassing 420,000 copies, they recorded the highest sales among rookies who debuted this year on Circle Chart following Hanteo Chart. On the global K-pop chart, all tracks from the debut album ranked: "GO!" (No. 18), "FaSHioN" (No. 22), "What You Want" (No. 29), "JoyRide" (No. 59), and "Lullaby" (No. 161).
Also, CORTIS is the only rookie who debuted this year to reach No. 1 on Spotify's "Daily Viral Songs Global." In particular, "What You Want" (Sept. 1–7) and "GO!" (Sept. 9–11) consecutively reached the top. "GO!" became the first debut song by a boy group that debuted in 2025 to break into Melon's real-time "Top 100" chart. They will cement their rising momentum with performances on Mnet's "M Countdown" on the 18th, KBS2's "Music Bank" on the 19th, MBC's "Show! Music Core" on the 20th and SBS's "Inkigayo" on the 21st.
CORTIS is a rookie group launched by BigHit Music, a label of HYBE Music Group (chairman Bang Si-hyuk). The five members have been drawing a large influx of fans by showcasing songs and choreography they created themselves.
[Photo] Provided by BigHit Music.
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