Group Dynamic Duo's "AEAO" is experiencing a surge on global charts again beyond a 10-year release gap after its first reverse climb in 2023, continuing a three-year run of long-term success. This is drawing attention as an unprecedented "ongoing legend track" in K-hip-hop history.
Dynamic Duo (Gaeko, Choiza)'s title track from their 2014 collaboration album with DJ Premier, "AEAO," has recently shown simultaneous sharp rises on various global music charts, proving its enduring long-run power.
As of the 28th of last month, "AEAO" entered the top song charts on Shazam, the world's largest music recognition platform, in nine Asian countries including Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Japan, China, Singapore and Malaysia. In particular, it rebounded 71 places in a single day to No. 85 in Thailand and rose six places to No. 89 in Korea, demonstrating its renewed surge. It also entered the Apple Music hip-hop/rap top song charts in 11 Asian countries, with noticeable rises observed in many regions including the Maldives, Bhutan, Malaysia and Thailand.
Notably, "AEAO" surpassed 100 million cumulative streams for a single track on Spotify, solidifying its status as a global hit. In addition to the original track, the monthly streaming and listener counts for the slowed version of "AEAO," released in 2023 (based on Oct. 30–Nov. 26), have both increased, showing steady listener response.
The song, which ignited popularity following a voluntary TikTok challenge in 2023, once again proved its value as a classic by being included in the original soundtrack of this year's U.S. NBA basketball game title "NBA 2K26." This is the first re-insertion in about 10 years since its tie-in with NBA 2K16, marking a monumental record as the first time the same song by a Korean artist with Korean lyrics has been included twice in the NBA 2K series soundtrack.
At the same time, numerous K-pop artists such as ENHYPEN, Hearts2Hearts, Cortis, NCT DREAM (NCT Dream), ZEROBASEONE, BOYNEXTDOOR and LE SSERAFIM have joined the "AEAO" challenge, creating a second-wave challenge boom.
Despite being released more than 10 years ago, "AEAO" occupies listeners' playlists across generations and platforms, and is evaluated as a representative track that symbolizes Korean hip-hop's global influence by establishing K-hip-hop's first "staircase-style long-term reverse climb" formula beyond a simple hit. Attention is focused on what symbolic records Dynamic Duo will continue to write through "AEAO."
Dynamic Duo will hold 2025 solo concerts "Let's stay together for a long time sometimes" and meet audiences at Busan Exhibition & Convention Center (BEXCO) Auditorium on Dec. 20 and 21, Daegu EXCO East Hall 4 on Dec. 24, Kimdaejung Convention Center Multipurpose Hall in Gwangju on Dec. 27, and Jangchung Arena in Seoul on Jan. 23, 24 and 25 next year.
[Photo] Provided by Amoeba Culture.
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