“Does BLACKPINK have no more fans?”

No more “BLACKPINK in your area”
BLACKPINK’s comeback with the album DEADLINE is still the focus of media attention and the Kpop fan community. Besides discussions about the quality of their music and achievements, a new topic causing controversy on major forums is the group’s performance on weekly music shows. The drop in fan vote scores compared to previous times has led many to question whether the global girl group’s popularity is waning. The question “Does BLACKPINK have no more fans?” has become a topic attracting conflicting opinions on Kpop forums.

BLACKPINK faces suspicions of declining popularity (Image: X)

Specifically, in recent nominations for awards at Korean television stations, BLACKPINK’s fan vote scores unexpectedly dropped to a record low. For example, on the music program Inkigayo, BLACKPINK’s title track “Go” only received a meager 6 votes from fans. Meanwhile, in the same category, junior group IVE with their song “Bang Bang” garnered 500 points, and rookie group Hearts2Hearts with their hit “Rude!” closely followed with 455 points. This situation continued in the M Countdown voting system, where BLACKPINK only secured 11% of the votes, completely overshadowed by Hearts2Hearts’ overwhelming 89%. This huge disparity immediately sparked suspicion and negative comments, suggesting that BLACKPINK’s fandom is no longer enthusiastic about supporting the group in the music industry.

BLACKPINK’s fanvote score is far behind their junior groups (Screenshot)

However, the reaction of the majority of neutral viewers and BLINKs is completely different. Most opinions point out that this is a very understandable situation and not worth creating a controversy about. For a group that has entered its tenth year of activity and has reached global influence like BLACKPINK, focusing all their efforts on competing for trophies on weekly music shows in their home country is no longer necessary for their career. Furthermore, BLACKPINK hasn’t promoted any products on music shows; this release is mainly a thank-you gift to their fans after a long period without a group release. With all four members of BLACKPINK focusing on their solo careers, competing for weekly domestic music shows is no longer aligned with BLACKPINK’s current direction.

BLINKs vote for BLACKPINK at Show Champion, bringing home their first music show trophy for GO (Screenshot)

Furthermore, considering the current scoring system of music shows, fan votes only account for a very small percentage. More decisive and significant components such as broadcast points, domestic digital music rankings, and physical album sales for BLACKPINK consistently maintain incredibly high scores. These scores are more than enough to carry the overall score without relying too heavily on fan votes. The BLINK community quickly clarified that these were just a few stages where they didn’t actively focus their votes. The clearest evidence is that recently on the Show Champion program, fans unanimously voted and brought about a very convincing victory for the four girls.

Many Korean netizens believe that posts attacking the voting results are actually just a tactic by anti-fans to bring them down, deliberately using a small detail to negate the group’s overall achievement. In reality, the series of records from the album Deadline has spoken for itself, dispelling any doubts about the group’s position. In the US market, the album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, while the title track “Go” also reached #63 on the Billboard Hot 100. On the Spotify streaming platform, Deadline is among the top 4 most explosive albums to debut in early 2026. The group also swept the #1 position on the iTunes Chart in 38 countries and territories, and the “Go” music video firmly held the #1 position on YouTube’s Global Weekly Top Songs.

The album DEADLINE still achieved many impressive accomplishments despite not having many promotional activities (Image: X)

The group also excellently won the Triple Crown title on Circle Chart and set a record of selling over 1.77 million physical copies in the first week on the Hanteo system. This huge number helped BLACKPINK make history as the Kpop girl group with the highest first-week album sales. The constant scrutiny actually further proves the group’s unique position.

Although these impressive numbers are somewhat modest when compared to their previous release, Born Pink, BLACKPINK is actually only regressing compared to their own previous achievements in the current Kpop music market. Their level, influence, and accomplishments are still on a completely different scale, far surpassing the average.

Despite some mixed opinions on this comeback, BLACKPINK still maintains its position as a top Kpop group (Image: X).

Despite some mixed opinions on the quality of their music, or being criticized by some critical members as a perfunctory album release, and the members not being very enthusiastic about group activities, the fan community is still wholeheartedly supporting and showering the four girls with the most passionate love for their comeback.