Following the latest episode of Mnet's "M Countdown," fromis_9 faced backlash after winning against TWICE Nayeon. Keep reading to know why.
fromis_9 Bags First Place in 'M Countdown,' Beating TWICE Nayeon
On the July 7 broadcast of Mnet's "M Countdown," the TWICE member turned soloist Nayeon and fromis_9 were nominated for first place. Nayeon's "POP!" and fromis_9's "Stay This Way" faced off for the No. 1 trophy. While Nayeon did not appear due to the end of her activities, the latter showed the aspect of summer queen with their new release.
Although it was a close fight, fromis_9 defeated Nayeon after the girl group topped the list with 5,000 points for digital, 1,500 points for physical, 465 points for global SNS, 755 points for global fan votes, 781 points for Mnet broadcasting, receiving 9,262 points for the final total.
Trailing behind them is Nayeon, who ranked second with 8,154 points in total. The soloist earned 4,820 points for digital, 196 points for physical, 966 points for global SNS, 860 points for global fan votes, and 312 points for Mnet broadcasting.
The members of fromis_9 who won first place expressed their gratitude to fans and said:
"We won first place on M Countdown for the first time. Thank you so much to the fans."
M Countdown Scores Are 'Strange'? fromis_9 Faces Backlash Following Win Against TWICE Nayeon
Following the "DM" singers' win, people questioned the scores that they received. They raised their brows at how fromis_9 achieved perfect scores on digital and physical when Nayeon os known for having high rankings on music charts.
In fact, on the same day, Nayeon ranked fourth in the top 100 of MelOn while fromis_9 did not even make it to the Top 100.
Some also highlighted that the TWICE member also proved her impact beyond Korea's music chart by ranking seventh on the Billboard main chart, Billboard 200, the highest performance among K-pop solo artists ever.
RELATED ARTICLE: 'Music Bank' Draws Criticism Following Kep1er's Win Against Nayeon- Here's Why
Although fromis_9 also set a new record with its fifth mini-album "from our Memento Box" after exceeding 130,000 albums (first-week sales), people doubt if it's enough for them to attain full scores in physical.
Netizens' reactions are divided:
"The scores of the digital are strange."
"The scores are like for major groups."
"It seems that they topped the music chart with '탈다' (re-download after closing account)."
On an online community, a netizen then explained that the reason fromis_9 scores high on music broadcasts was because of their high standing on Circle Chart (formerly Gaon Chart).
Unlike other charts such as MelOn, Circle allows fans to mass-download during a certain time (when the points were being counted) to bring up the group's ranking.
This is common among fandoms, but fromis_9 fans, flover, goes to the extent of spending money to earn points. In context, one of the unique features of the Circle Chart ranking system is that 1 KRW = 1 point. The higher the points, the higher the ranking.
People, nonetheless, remain skeptical of the credibility of the chart ranking system, which is based on revenue.
As fromis_9 is a nine-member girl group formed through Mnet's "Idol School," which has been controversial about voting manipulation, cold reactions continue.
READ MORE: Mnet's 'Idol School' Gets Fined by the Korea Communications Standards Commission for Voting Manipulation
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Written by Eunice Dawson
