WAKER has entered a full-fledged growth orbit in the global short-form market.
Group WAKER (WAKER, Goh Hyun·Kwon Hyup·Lee Jun·Rio·Saebyeol·Sebum) entered both countries simultaneously on the YouTube Shorts Daily Chart on the 11th, ranking 49th in Korea and 28th in Japan with their new song "LiKE THAT".
Given that short-form charts are compiled based on actual user reactions and content consumption, this achievement shows that WAKER has secured topicality and strong fandom power in both Korea and Japan. In particular, WAKER is a team that established a local fandom through concerts and fan meetings by centering Japan as a main activity base even before debut, and the fancams and fan content filmed through this process spread through short-form platforms, leading to this chart result.
Having built a solid fan base in Japan as a primary activity base, WAKER has this comeback to captivate the domestic market as well, drawing meaningful responses in both Korea and Japan. Their simultaneous chart entry in Korea and Japan has raised expectations for expanded activities in the global market.
It is also notable that an artist from a small- to mid-sized agency, not a major agency, entered a global algorithm-based chart. In the short-form platform structure, which is hard to spread without actual user reactions, WAKER's success is more meaningful because it was created by content competitiveness and fans' voluntary consumption rather than marketing.
Earlier, WAKER made a comeback on the 8th by releasing their third mini album In Elixir: Spellbound. This new release, with the completeness of a full-length album, entered Hanteo Chart's daily album chart at No. 2 on the day of release, and the title track "LiKE THAT" rose to No. 23 on X's real-time trends, drawing global attention.
Meanwhile, WAKER will continue active comeback activities through various online and offline content and music shows. [Photo] Provided by Howling Entertainment [OSEN]