K-pop girl group NewJeans (NewJeans' official Twitter account) 

By Margareth Theresia

The K-pop girl group NewJeans and Jungkook, a member of the superstar boy band BTS, have set Guinness World Records by each achieving a billion streams on Spotify in the fastest time.

NewJeans' management agency Ador on May 9 said its group hit the billion mark in streams. 

The London-based Guinness said, "On 8 March 2023, South Korean quintet NewJeans (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin and Hyein) achieved 1 billion streams on Spotify in 219 days – faster than any other K-pop act (solo male, solo female or group)." 

The previous records were 411 days by Lisa of BLACKPINK and Jungkook with 409. 

NewJeans' mark was achieved through its six tracks "Attention," "Hype Boy," "Cookie," "Hurt," "OMG" and "Ditto." 

"OMG" had 320.07 million streams, "Ditto" 318.36 million and "Hype Boy" 305.42 million, with "Attention" receiving around 200 million and "Cookie" 100 million. 

Jungkook of BTS films the music video for "Dreamers." (BTS' official Twitter account)  

Guinness also named Jungkook the fastest K-pop solo artist to get a billion Spotify streams. 

From March 27, he achieved the feat 409 days after his solo debut of three tracks, or two days faster than the previous record held by Lisa, Guinness added. 

Jungkook's solo tracks on Spotify include "Stay Alive" from the soundtrack of the Korean webtoon "7 Fates: Chakho"; "Left and Right," a collaborative song with Charlie Puth; and the official song of last year's Qatar World Cup soccer finals "Dreamers." 

The original version of "Left and Right" was streamed 595.27 million times as of May 9. 

margareth@korea.kr