CORTIS is setting a new milestone for the 5th generation Kpop boy bands as they continue to explode both on global streaming charts and on live performance stages.
After the resounding success of the title track "RedRed" from the album "GreenGreen", CORTIS continued to maintain growth momentum with "YoungCreatorCrew" in the album. The song created a strong viral trend called "Youngkk" - a shortened nickname from the song's name - in the fan community and Gen Z youth.
According to Spotify, as of May 23, CORTIS has surpassed 12.04 million monthly listeners, marking one of the highest achievements that a Kpop boy group has ever achieved after seniors like BTS.
This achievement puts HYBE's rookie group in the Top 3 male Kpop groups with the highest monthly number of listeners of all time on the Spotify platform.
CORTIS also became the first rookie boy band to debut in the last 5 years to enter both Spotify's global daily and weekly charts, while maintaining their ranking for more than a month.
The title track "RedRed" previously reached number 36 on Spotify's global Daily Top Songs chart, and continued to dominate major domestic charts.
As of May 23, "RedRed" topped Spotify Korea's Daily Top Songs chart for 26 consecutive days and held No. 1 on Apple Music Korea's Today's Top 100 chart for 29 consecutive days. The song also topped Melon Top 100 (Korea's leading music chart) for 5 consecutive days.
The group continued to consolidate their position when they won on "Show! Music Core" on May 23 and "Inkigayo" on May 24, raising the total number of domestic music show winning cups to 9.
The popularity of "RedRed" also spread to the subtitles in the album. In particular, "YoungCreatorCrew" climbed to number 18 on Spotify Korea and number 4 on Apple Music Korea, showing remarkable digital music power.
The song reflects the honest thoughts of the 5 members (James, Juhoon, Martin, Seonghyeon, Keonho) about their identity as a "young creator crew".
The song emphasizes the group's collaborative approach in music, dance and video content production, while expressing the spirit of freedom of youth who do not want to be constrained by conventional stereotypes.
Currently, this phrase has been shortened by fans to "Youngkk" and developed into a cultural phenomenon as well as a trend of Gen Z.
In May, CORTIS appeared at many university festivals in Korea, including Dankook University on May 13, Hongik University on May 14 and Korea University on May 19, where tens of thousands of students chanted "Youngkk" in large-scale performances.
