NewJeans has proven just how popular they are in Japan, achieving incredible success in their first year since debuting there!

According to their agency ADOR on January 10th, NewJeans (Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein) ranked 2nd in Oricon's prestigious Annual New Artist Ranking for 2024. What’s even more impressive? This ranking is the highest ever achieved by any overseas artist in the list!

The New Artist Ranking takes into account various sales, including singles, albums, streaming, and music DVDs. Oricon revealed that NewJeans earned an impressive 2.09 billion yen in sales during the tracking period (from December 11, 2023, to December 8, 2024).

NewJeans made an unforgettable debut in Japan in June last year, and their debut single "Supernatural" quickly shot to the top of the Oricon chart. It was certified Gold Disc by the Japan Record Association for shipping over 100,000 copies. The album itself has sold over 1.3 million copies (as of the December Circle Chart). The title track “Supernatural” topped major Japanese music charts and even ranked high on both local and international charts, despite being a Japanese single.

But that’s not all! NewJeans made history by becoming the fastest overseas artist to perform at the Tokyo Dome, doing so in just 1 year and 11 months. Their Tokyo Dome fan meeting “Bunnies Camp 2024 Tokyo Dome,” held on June 26-27 last year, sold out completely, drawing 91,200 fans.

On top of these amazing achievements, NewJeans was awarded the Excellent Work Award at the 66th Shining! Japan Record Awards for their hit song "Supernatural." They also stole the spotlight at local year-end television events, becoming the first K-pop girl group to perform at Japan’s largest indoor festival, "Countdown Japan 24/25," on December 31.

Clearly, NewJeans is taking Japan by storm, and their success shows no signs of slowing down.

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Kim Jaejoong, the famous singer and businessman, recently revealed that he was the victim of a hacking incident involving his Kakao Pay account, raising concerns about his financial safety.

On May 7, the star shared his experience with fans via the official fan platform From, explaining that his Kakao Pay account was hacked and the password was changed without his permission. As a result, Kim Jaejoong was locked out of his account and couldn’t access any of his information, which made the situation even more difficult to handle.

He expressed frustration over the customer service process, sharing that he had contacted support multiple times for help. Despite talking to a representative for over an hour, the issue wasn’t resolved. Kim Jaejoong pointed out a flaw in the system: “The hacker changed the password, so why do I, the victim, have to prove everything?”

Things only got worse when he was told he would be connected to another representative, only for it to be the same department. He admitted, “I was mentally crushed” after realizing the lack of progress. While he acknowledged that the customer service staff was working hard, he couldn’t help but feel that the system was too weak to handle such incidents.

Fortunately, after two days of struggle, the situation was finally resolved. Kim Jae Joong confirmed that his account was closed and deleted, and luckily, no financial loss occurred. “It was truly a terrifying day,” he shared, relieved that the problem was fixed.

Despite the scary experience, Kim Jaejoong continues to thrive in other areas of his career. In 2023, he co-founded iNKODE Entertainment, a company where he works as a producer and businessman. iNKODE Entertainment currently manages artists like Oh Ji Yul, Jung Si Hyun, Lee Ji Hoon, and others. Kim Jae joong also launched the 7-member girl group Say My Name last year.

Even though he’s facing challenges, Kim Jaejoong’s career remains strong, and he’s taking steps to ensure this type of situation doesn’t happen again.

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