K-pop News Today (Nov 2, 2026): A2O LITE Win Inkigayo Again, BTS Wrap Up Brazil, IVE’s First-Week Rebound

Can I just say it as a fan: I woke up smiling at this list. A2O LITE took home an eighth music-show trophy in just 13 days, BTS sang their last São Paulo night before heading to Asia, and IVE broke a three-year streak of falling first-week sales. Here are the stories K-pop fans were talking about on Nov. 1.

A2O LITE Win ‘Inkigayo’ for a Second Straight Week, Their 8th Music-Show Trophy

A2O LITE won No. 1 on SBS’s “Inkigayo” on Nov. 1 with their debut single “NEON,” scoring 6,576 points ahead of NMIXX’s “Birthday Wish” (4,047) and IVE’s “Looks Can Kill” (3,735). It is their second “Inkigayo” trophy in a row and their eighth music-show win overall, all collected in the 13 days since their first win on “The Show” on Oct. 20, across six different programs. “We’re so happy and grateful to receive such a precious award again this week,” the group said on stage, thanking A2O Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man. “NEON” was still No. 1 on the Melon TOP100 at 4 a.m. KST on Nov. 2, and SBS’s official stage video reached 974,329 views in about 13 hours. Eight trophies less than three weeks after debut: a hook that started as a meme is now the song the whole country is dancing to.

Sources: Top Star News, Nov. 1, Ilgan Sports, Nov. 1, Melon TOP100 (checked 4 a.m. KST, Nov. 2), YouTube views checked 5 a.m. KST, Nov. 2

Also read: K-pop News Today (Nov 1, 2026): A2O LITE Win Music Core, j-hope's 'MONA LISA' Hits 100M Views, BESTie Reunite After 11 Years

BTS Close the Latin American Leg of the ‘ARIRANG’ Tour in São Paulo

BTS wrapped up the Latin American leg of their “ARIRANG” world tour with three sold-out concerts at São Paulo’s MorumBIS stadium on Oct. 28, 30 and 31 (local time), and the tour continues in Asia with Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in November. Brazilian media had expected about 90,000 fans a night, and the tour as a whole spans 79 shows in 34 regions, the biggest in the group’s history. Back home, the album “ARIRANG” spent its 31st straight week on the Billboard 200 (No. 46 on the chart dated Oct. 31), and Jin’s solo songs “Don’t Say You Love Me” and “To Me, Today” played as the soundtrack of the Seoul Arts Center’s World Music Fountain through Nov. 1. Seven years after their last stadium shows in Brazil, ARMY there finally got their reunion, and Asia is next in line.

Sources: Newsen, Nov. 1, Rolling Stone Brasil, Oct. 28, Top Star News, Nov. 1

IVE’s ‘Looks Can Kill’ Sells 714,887 Copies in Its First Week

IVE’s fifth mini album “Looks Can Kill” sold 714,887 copies in its first week, according to Hanteo Chart figures reported Nov. 1. That is 47,653 more (up 7.14%) than February’s second full album “REVIVE+” (667,234), and the first time since October 2023 that an IVE album has outsold the one before it in week one. The title track has climbed as high as No. 6 on Melon’s daily chart and was No. 7 on the Melon TOP100 at 4 a.m. KST on Nov. 2, and the group performed it again on “Inkigayo” on Nov. 1. Turning the numbers back upward in their fifth year is exactly the kind of quiet strength DIVE have always believed in.

Sources: Sports Kyunghyang, Nov. 1, Melon TOP100 (checked 4 a.m. KST, Nov. 2)

ENHYPEN Reveal ‘I Want You’ as the Title of ‘THE SIN : PARALLEL WORLD’

ENHYPEN revealed the tracklist of their spin-off single “THE SIN : PARALLEL WORLD” on the afternoon of Oct. 31, with the title track “I Want You,” “Don’t Stop” and the fan song “ILY Season,” whose lyrics all six members wrote for ENGENE. “I Want You” is a romantic song about two lovers recognizing their fate in a parallel world, produced with JULiA LEWiS, who also worked on “Bloody Paradise,” while American singer-songwriter Bazzi is credited on “Don’t Stop.” The MV arrives Nov. 13 at 11:59 p.m. KST, the digital release follows Nov. 20 at 2 p.m. and the physical album on Nov. 23 at noon, closing out the “THE SIN” story they have told all year. A fan song with every member’s words in it is the sweetest possible ending to this series.

Sources: Top Star News, Nov. 1, Sports Kyunghyang, Nov. 1

TWS Preview ‘Call My Name’ Before Today’s ‘TO US’ Comeback

TWS shared the chorus choreography of “Call My Name” (“내 이름을 불러줘”), the title track of their second single album “TO US,” ahead of the release on Nov. 2 at 6 p.m. KST. The song layers drum and bass and strings over piano played by jazz pianist Yoon Seok-cheol, and Youngjae, Shinyu and Dohoon wrote lyrics for their fandom, 42. A separate “face reveal challenge,” where you turn around on the line “call my name,” had fans replying “I’ll call your name for the rest of my life.” Six boys promising to do their best for the people who believe in them is the TWS youth anthem fans fell in love with in the first place.

Sources: MK Sports, Nov. 1, JTBC, Nov. 1

AND2BLE Bring ‘French Kissing’ to ‘Inkigayo’ as the MV Passes 21 Million Views

AND2BLE (Zhang Hao, Yoo Seung-eon, Ricky, Kim Gyu-vin and Han Yu-jin) performed “Potion” and their title track “French Kissing” on “Inkigayo” on Nov. 1, continuing comeback week for their second mini album “Sequence 02: Attraction.” The album sold about 520,000 copies on its first day, entered the iTunes Top Albums top 10 in 13 regions, and the “French Kissing” MV has passed 21 million views. On Nov. 1 the group also released an official performance video on their own channel, which drew 72,714 views in about four hours. A five-month gap between minis, and they came back with a stage this polished: their fans have every reason to be proud.

Sources: MHN, Nov. 1, Top Star News, Nov. 1

JISOO and ATEEZ’s San and Wooyoung Head to ‘Please Take Care of My Refrigerator’

JTBC’s “Please Take Care of My Refrigerator” closed its Nov. 1 episode with a preview of the next one, starring BLACKPINK’s JISOO and ATEEZ’s San and Wooyoung. JISOO said she watches the show while eating and insisted her fridge was “the fullest it has ever been,” only for the chefs to shout “emergency” when the door opened; she also confessed she eats tteokbokki at the spiciest level, which left the chefs calling her “a Martian.” JTBC’s official preview clip passed 218,000 views within about six hours. JISOO in her “ADDICTED” era laughing over an empty-ish fridge is the cozy content BLINKs and ATINY didn’t know they needed.

Sources: Tenasia, Nov. 1, Newsen, Nov. 1

TXT Play the First Seconds of ‘Angel Bite’ as Pre-Saves Hold No. 1 for a Week

TOMORROW X TOGETHER posted a roughly 10-second clip of “Angel Bite,” the title track of their ninth mini album “PERFECT STORM,” at noon KST on Nov. 1: a smiley emoji sheds a single tear as the line “That angel bite” plays. Big Hit Music describes it as a “discoplugg” love song about holding on to the one person you love through a youth that isn’t always beautiful. The album topped Spotify’s pre-save “Top 10 Countdown” for seven straight days, Oct. 26 to Nov. 1, ahead of its Nov. 16 release at 6 p.m. KST. Ten seconds were enough for MOA to start counting down the days.

Sources: Top Star News, Nov. 1

AMPERS&ONE Announce Their First Full Album ‘PATHFINDER’ for Nov. 17

AMPERS&ONE will release their first full album, “PATHFINDER,” on Nov. 17, FNC Entertainment announced Nov. 1 with a concept film on the group’s official channels. It is their first comeback in about seven months, since April’s fourth mini album “DEFINITION,” and follows a tour that took the seven members to 27 cities. A first full album almost exactly three years after their November 2023 debut feels like the perfect anniversary gift for their fans.

Sources: My Daily, Nov. 1, Sports Donga, Nov. 1

BTS and Stray Kids Are 874 Votes Apart in the AAA 2026 Popularity Vote

The final round of popularity voting for the Asia Artist Awards 2026 (AAA 2026) is down to its last days, and the male group race is razor-thin: as of Nov. 1, BTS led with 206,670 votes and Stray Kids followed with 205,796, a gap of just 874. CORTIS (49,749) and EXO (47,567) were third and fourth. In the other music categories, ISEGYE IDOL led the female group vote, Lim Young-woong the male solo vote, and TWICE’s Tzuyu the female solo vote with 343,597. Votes this close mean every single tap from ARMY and STAY counts until the very end.

Sources: Top Star News, Nov. 1 (figures as of Nov. 1)

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TWS and TREASURE both return tonight, RESCENE follow on Nov. 3, and I already know which songs will be on repeat on my way to work this week. See you tomorrow, and happy comeback Monday.

Featured photo: BTS’s Jin at a Maison Fred photo call, March 13, 2025. Photo: K-POPIT (Tenasia) via YouTube/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and adapted).