By Joung Haseung 

The American music magazine Billboard on June 28 said the BTS hit "Butter" topped the Hot 100 singles chart for the fifth straight week. 

The K-pop sensation thus broke its previous record (four) of most weeks at No. 1 on the chart by an Asian act. 

"Butter" on June 5 debuted at No. 1 on the chart and retained the spot for four consecutive weeks, a first by an Asian act. 

Seeing songs by Korean artists on the Billboard charts is common nowadays, but in the early 2000s, many K-pop acts could only dream of entering the charts. 

The Hot 100 is considered an insurmountable wall to scale for non-English-speaking artists or those outside of the U.S. market because the chart is based on single album streaming, sales and radio play in the U.S. 

Nonetheless, K-pop acts like Wonder Girls and Psy entered the Billboard sphere by overcoming these barriers and paved the way for K-pop to penetrate the global pop music market. 

The following are four K-pop artists other than BTS who made history on the Hot 100. 

Wonder Girls 

This group was the first Korean act to chart on the Hot 100. The 2009 English-language version of its hit "Nobody" reached as high as 76th. 

Wonder Girls' historic entry into the chart was the result of long preparation and a meticulous marketing strategy by its management agency JYP Entertainment. 

JYP spent five years of preparation to have the group enter the U.S. and conducted promotional activities there to boost Wonder Girls' recognition. In 2009 from June through August, the band toured with the Jonas Brothers in the North American leg of the American group's world tour. The girls also appeared on American radio shows and the Teen Choice Awards. 

In an October 2009 interview with the Korean daily Joongang Ilbo, JYP CEO Park Jin-young said, "Our targeting of the market for young American teens worked since they tend to be less racist," adding, "Targeting the U.S. market using Korean concepts and songs with no help from American producers or composers was also effective." 

Psy 

This artist is mostly likely the pick as the pioneer who introduced K-pop to the world. With a rhythmic dance-pop rhythm and easy-to-follow choreography, "Gangnam Style" in 2012 became a global viral sensation and its music video was once YouTube's most watched video of all time. 

The smash soared to the second spot on the Hot 100 and stayed there for seven straight weeks. Despite its global success, "Gangnam Style" failed to surpass American group Maroon 5's "One More Night," which stayed at No. 1 for nine consecutive weeks.

In 2013, Psy entered the chart again, this time at No. 5, with "Gentleman." A year later, his song "Hangover" featuring American hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg ranked 26th. 

CL 

In 2016, CL became the first Korean female solo artist to chart on the Hot 100 with "Lifted," which hit 94th. 

BLACKPINK

This girl quartet first entered the chart in April 2019 at No. 41 with "Kill This Love." 

Last year, BLACKPINK climbed to No. 33 with "How You Like That," the title track of its first studio album "The Album." In September that year, its song "Ice Cream" featuring American actor-singer Selena Gomez ranked 13th, the highest by a K-pop girl group. 

With its global success, BLACKPINK is considered the best K-pop act on the Hot 100 not named BTS. In the 2019 Billboard article "Inside Blackpink's U.S. Takeover: How the K-Pop Queens Are Changing the Game," the magazine said the group's multinational composition and higher international exposure of its music through social media were BLACKPINK's secrets to success.  

Billboard added that BLACKPINK's "real" and "authentic" expressions spoke to American audiences, in contrast to the conventional expectation of idols maintaining a squeaky-clean image. 

"Nobody" (English-language version) by Wonder Girls 

"Gangnam Style" by Psy 

"Lifted" by CL 

"Kill This Love" by BLACKPINK

jhaseung@korea.kr