Ten Years Later, BLACKPINK Is Still Setting the Records

BLACKPINK debuted on August 8, 2016, with the single album “Square One” and its double title tracks, “Whistle” and “Boombayah.” Ten years later, on August 8, 2026, the group is marking that anniversary with an intimate meet and greet in Seoul, held at the National Museum of Korea. YG Entertainment confirmed on August 7 that all four members, Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé, and Lisa, will attend. The event is capped at 40 fans, selected from those who held an active BLACKPINK Weverse Membership as of July 31.

The scale is small on purpose. But the decade behind it is not.

A Comeback That Broke Its Own Record

BLACKPINK spent most of the anniversary year proving the group still moves numbers like no one else in K-pop. Their third EP, “DEADLINE,” released February 27, 2026, sold 1,461,785 physical copies on its first day, according to Hanteo Chart data confirmed by YG Entertainment. That figure gave BLACKPINK the record for the highest first-day album sales in history for a K-pop girl group, surpassing their own 2022 album “Born Pink,” which had sold 1.01 million copies on release day.

The momentum did not stop at 24 hours. By the end of its first week, “DEADLINE” had sold roughly 1.77 million copies, setting a new first-week sales record for a K-pop girl group and edging past the previous mark held by aespa’s “My World.” The EP debuted at number one on South Korea’s Circle Album Chart and became BLACKPINK’s third top ten album on the Billboard 200. Its title track, “Go,” released as the EP’s second single after “Jump,” marked the first time all four members had co-written a song together.

The Tour That Closed Out an Era

Before the EP, there was the road. BLACKPINK’s Deadline World Tour, the group’s first all-stadium run, kicked off July 5, 2025, at Goyang Stadium in South Korea and wrapped January 26, 2026, at Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong, spanning 33 shows across Asia, North America, and Europe. The tour followed the Born Pink World Tour, which grossed $330 million and drew 1.8 million fans, a run that still stands as the highest-grossing concert tour by a female group and by an Asian artist in history.

Along the way, BLACKPINK became the first girl group to sell out two consecutive nights at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, according to Forbes.

Marking the Day, Quietly

The anniversary rollout itself has stayed modest by BLACKPINK standards. Alongside the Weverse meet and greet, YG Plus unveiled the BLACKPINK Heritage Collection, a seven item merchandise line made with MU:DS, the National Museum of Korea’s official goods brand. The collection draws on the “jeogui wonbon,” a garment pattern for an empress’s ceremonial robe held at the museum, reworked in the group’s black and pink palette. Weverse members are also receiving a commemorative anniversary badge.

Some fans have pushed back on the scale of the celebration, arguing a milestone this size deserved more than a 40 person gathering. Others are simply glad to see all four members in one room again, ten years after “Whistle” and “Boombayah” first put them there.

Either way, the numbers from the year leading up to it do the talking. A decade in, BLACKPINK is still setting the records other groups are chasing.