'this year's best new artist' CORTIS (CORTIS) is drawing attention as it rides another upward trend in several popularity indicators, including music streaming counts.
On the 9th, HYBE Music Group label BigHit Music said the daily combined Spotify plays of CORTIS (Martin, James, Juhun, Sunghyun, Geonho)'s debut album "COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES" surged by nearly 25% since December began.
Since their domestic music show activities ended last September, streaming of "COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES," which had steadily held around 2 million, rose to 2.51 million on Dec. 1, 2.57 million on Dec. 2 and peaked at 2.64 million on Dec. 3–4. The latest tally for Dec. 5–7 also shows an average above 2.5 million, indicating a stable trend.
With year-end major award shows such as the 2025 MAMA Awards (hereafter 2025 MAMA) and the Asia Artist Awards 2025 (hereafter AAA 2025) coming up, the stages at those events helped drive a second surge in CORTIS's popularity. Performances that showcased the five members' presence and vocal ability and large sing-alongs at overseas stadiums spread by word of mouth, increasing new listener inflows.
The day after the "MAMA" broadcast, Nov. 30, the daily Spotify plays of the debut album intro "GO!" and "FaSHioN," which were showcased at the ceremony, showed a marked increase. Starting from that date, "GO!" gradually rose and on Dec. 3 hit the recent one-month daily streaming record high (880,466). On the same day, the album track "FaSHioN" recorded its highest number of streams since debut (886,155).
On social media, known as a "window that reads trends," CORTIS's expanding popularity is also remarkable. They have currently attracted 2.1 million subscribers to the team's official YouTube channel, the first among rookies who debuted this year. On Dec. 6, CORTIS's Instagram followers surpassed 7 million, the highest number among boy groups that debuted in the past four years. Considering the account has been operated since August of this year, the growth rate is astonishing.
Meanwhile, cumulative sales of CORTIS's debut album "COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES" are approaching 1.2 million copies (according to Circle Chart). On the strength of these achievements, CORTIS won two trophies at the 2025 MAMA — Best New Artist — and at AAA 2025 — AAA Rookie of the Year and AAA Best Performance — becoming two-time award winners.
[photo] BigHit Music
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