K-pop News Today (Oct 31, 2026): BTS’s ‘Arirang’ Night in Brazil, JISOO’s ‘ADDICTED’ Tops iTunes, NMIXX Win Music Bank

I’ll be honest: as a fan, reading about 85,000 people singing “Arirang” back to BTS in São Paulo gave me goosebumps this morning. JISOO’s new song is out in the world, NMIXX got the trophy they wished for, and A2O LITE are still holding the top of Melon. Here are the stories K-pop fans were talking about on Oct. 30.

BTS Hear 85,000 Fans Sing ‘Arirang’ in São Paulo

At BTS’s first São Paulo show of the “ARIRANG” world tour, about 85,000 fans sang a line of the Korean folk song “Arirang” during “Body to Body,” and all seven members lowered their microphones to listen. Brazilian daily O Tempo reported that the three sold-out nights sold 252,000 tickets, about 168 times the 1,500-capacity hall where BTS held their first Brazilian fan meeting in 2014. The rain-soaked show ran about 2 hours 20 minutes with 23 songs, including surprise picks “Black Swan” and the early-days track “Silver Spoon,” plus Portuguese greetings from the members. Two more nights remain, Oct. 30 and 31, and it’s hard to imagine a warmer way for Brazilian ARMY to close the Latin American leg.

Sources: Star News, Oct. 30, Top Star News, Oct. 30

Also read: K-pop News Today (Oct 26, 2026): A2O LITE's 4th Win, BABYMONSTER's 31M, RIIZE 'Insomnia'

JISOO’s ‘ADDICTED’ Hits No. 1 on iTunes in 26 Markets

JISOO released “ADDICTED,” the second pre-release single from her first full-length solo album, at 8 a.m. KST on Oct. 30, with choreography by Lee Jung and an underwater performance in the MV. The official MV reached 8,154,340 views by 5 a.m. KST on Oct. 31, about 21 hours after release, and the song was No. 1 on iTunes in 26 markets, including Brazil, Mexico, India, Indonesia and Hong Kong, according to chart tracker kworb (checked 4:50 a.m. KST, Oct. 31). It arrived just one month after “CLICK,” and one day after she and BLACKPINK received the Order of Cultural Merit. Music show stages come next, and BLINKs finally get to see that underwater choreography on a real stage.

Sources: Xports News, Oct. 30, My Daily, Oct. 30, kworb iTunes, YouTube views checked 5:00 a.m. KST, Oct. 31

NMIXX Win Music Bank With ‘Birthday Wish’

NMIXX took No. 1 on KBS2’s “Music Bank” on Oct. 30 with “Birthday Wish,” scoring 7,775 points against IVE’s “Looks Can Kill” at 5,662. On stage, Haewon said the members had wished for a Music Bank win on a variety show, and “it really came true,” thanking NSWER for coming out and wishing with them. The song is the title track of their sixth mini album “Strange Muse,” released Oct. 19, and the win came in the same week the group received a Minister of Culture commendation. A song about making wishes for each other, answered by a trophy: NSWER couldn’t have written it better.

Sources: Sports Today, Oct. 30, Top Star News, Oct. 30

AND2BLE Sell About 520,000 Copies on Day One

AND2BLE, Zhang Hao, Yu Seung-eon, Ricky, Kim Gyu-bin and Han Yu-jin, sold about 520,000 copies of their second mini album “Sequence 02: Attraction” on its first day, becoming a half-million seller, and reached the top 10 of iTunes Top Albums in 13 regions. They began promotions with their “French Kissing” comeback stage on “Music Bank” on Oct. 30. The tropical R&B title track’s MV had 16,509,077 views by 5 a.m. KST on Oct. 31, and its point move, two hands covering the mouth to draw a kiss, is the moment to watch on stage. Barely five months after debut, this is a group whose numbers keep climbing.

Sources: My Daily, Oct. 30, bnt News, Oct. 30

A2O LITE’s ‘NEON’ Holds No. 1 on Melon as TV Stars Cover It

A2O LITE’s “NEON” was still No. 1 on the Melon TOP100 at 4 a.m. KST on Oct. 31, after also topping Melon’s daily chart for Oct. 29. Their “NEON + Dance Break” stage on “Music Bank” on Oct. 30, performed with sister group A2O SOUL joining the dance break, drew 944,787 views on KBS’s official channel in under 11 hours (checked 5 a.m. KST, Oct. 31). The song has also become a variety-show challenge: on the Oct. 31 episode of MBC’s “Hangout with Yoo?”, actor Kim Kwang-kyu and entertainers Heo Kyung-hwan and Joo Woo-jae form the parody trio “AZ2O,” produced by Yoo Jae-suk, to cover the choreography. When one of Korea’s best-loved variety shows is learning your dance, a debut song has truly become everyone’s song.

Sources: Melon TOP100 (checked 4 a.m. KST, Oct. 31), MHN, Oct. 30, Sports Today, Oct. 30

BTS, IVE, ILLIT and CORTIS Lead the MMA2026 Nominations

Melon announced the nominees for the 2026 Melon Music Awards (MMA2026) on Oct. 30 and opened voting in 12 categories through Nov. 13. BTS, AKMU, I.O.I, IVE, ILLIT, KiiiKiii and CORTIS are up for the three grand prizes, Artist, Album and Best Song of the Year, with aespa, YENA, Hearts2Hearts, PLAVE, NCT WISH and ALLDAY PROJECT also in the running for top awards. The New Artist race is between SYSTEM SEOUL, HADES, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, LNGSHOT and TUIDE, and 30 acts are nominated for the Global TOP10. For the first time, the show runs two days, Nov. 14 and 15, at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Two weeks of voting means every fandom has a job to do starting today.

Sources: OSEN, Oct. 30, Break News, Oct. 30

ATEEZ Bring ‘Drip’ to Music Bank Before ‘GOLDEN HOUR : Part.6’

ATEEZ performed their pre-release single “Drip” on “Music Bank” on Oct. 30, and the stage video drew 408,885 views on KBS’s official channel by 5 a.m. KST on Oct. 31. KQ Entertainment finished rolling out the second set of black-leather concept photos for the 15th mini album “GOLDEN HOUR : Part.6” the same day; the album and its title track “UP” arrive Nov. 13 at 2 p.m. KST, made with the producers behind their previous title track “BAD.” The group then starts the “ZERO TO ALL” world tour in Incheon in January before Japan, Europe, North America and South America. ATINY have exactly two weeks to wait, and the countdown already has a soundtrack.

Sources: Star Daily News, Oct. 31, The Fact, Oct. 30

BOYNEXTDOOR Begin Their First North American Tour in Dallas

BOYNEXTDOOR open “BOYNEXTDOOR TOUR ‘KNOCK ON Vol.2’ IN NORTH AMERICA,” their first North American tour, at The Bomb Factory in Dallas on Oct. 30 local time. From there they play Pompano Beach (Nov. 1), Chicago, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, before closing in Mexico City on Nov. 24, with new songs added to the setlist. They arrive with six straight albums on the Billboard 200, led by the No. 16 peak of their first full album “HOME.” “We’ll give it our all and come back with lots of happy memories,” the members said, and ONEDOOR across the continent are ready to make those memories with them.

Sources: Tenasia, Oct. 30, Newsis, Oct. 30

ILLIT’s ‘Midnight Fiction’ Becomes Their Ninth 100-Million Song on Spotify

ILLIT’s “Midnight Fiction,” a b-side from their 2024 debut album “SUPER REAL ME,” passed 100 million Spotify streams (100,134,271 as of Oct. 28), the group’s ninth song to do so, Spotify data showed on Oct. 30. Days earlier, on Oct. 25, “Lucky Girl Syndrome” became their fifth song past 200 million. Their new title track “You’re Under Arrest,” from the fifth mini album “BREAK EVEN” released Oct. 26, entered the Melon TOP100 at No. 72 and climbed to No. 5 within four days. Debut-album b-sides still finding new listeners two years later is the kind of long life GLLIT always believed these songs deserved.

Sources: OSEN, Oct. 30, Break News, Oct. 30

SECHSKIES’ Ko Ji-yong, Jang Su-won and Lee Jae-jin Reunite on Stage

SECHSKIES members Ko Ji-yong, Jang Su-won and Lee Jae-jin will share a stage at “THE TREE in INSPIRE – 젝키의 못다 한 이야기 (SECHSKIES’ Untold Stories)” on Dec. 15 and 16 at INSPIRE Arena on Incheon’s Yeongjong Island, the organizer said on Oct. 30, releasing the official poster. It’s the first official event for the three together, set ahead of the first-generation group’s 30th anniversary next year, with music and talk about old memories; Eun Ji-won and Kim Jae-duck are not part of this show. Ko left the entertainment industry after the group disbanded in 2000 and did not join the 2016 reunion, which makes this a rare night for Yellow Kies who have waited a very long time.

Sources: Tenasia, Oct. 30

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Happy Halloween, everyone. BTS have two more nights in São Paulo, “Hangout with Yoo?” airs the AZ2O cover tonight, and I can’t wait to see JISOO’s “ADDICTED” on a music show stage.

Featured photo: BTS perform at the FIFA World Cup Final, MetLife Stadium, July 19, 2026. Photo: Daniel Torok, The White House via Wikimedia Commons, public domain (cropped).