Singer IU has been selected as the representative of Korea for Billboard‘s ‘Global No. 1 Artist Series’.

Billboard praised her, saying, “IU is irreplaceable. There are many people who excel in their respective fields as a popular idol, an artist who is good at music, an actor who is good at acting, and a host who smoothly runs broadcasts and variety shows, but IU is the only one who can do it all at the same time.”.

In addition, “The love of K-pop fandom and Korean music fans for musician IU in particular is absolute. From the young to the old, IU’s popularity spans generations, and this is even more evident in her musical achievements and performances,”acknowledging IU‘s position as a representative Korean musician.”An analysis of this year’s charts and world tour results followed. Billboard analyzed, “IU showed an overwhelming presence on the 2024 charts. ‘Love Wins All’ ranked first on the Melon TOP 100 chart within an hour of its release, and achieved amazing results such as #1 on the weekly chart for four consecutive weeks, #1 on the monthly chart in February, and achieving 339 perfect all-kills on iChart.”

Regarding the world tour, “IU held 31 concerts in 12 countries, mobilizing an audience of approximately 500,000 people, setting a record for the largest-scale world tour by a Korean female soloist,” and “She earned the unprecedented title of being the first female singer to enter the Seoul World Cup Stadium and the first female singer to perform at all of Korea‘s large stadiums.”

IU achieved “Global, Billboard, No. 1. “I feel honored and happy to be described like this,” she said, sharing her thoughts on the selection.

Meanwhile, IU is set to release the Netflix series ‘Fooled Me’ in 2025, and is expected to pursue various activities such as filming the new MBC drama ‘21st Century Grand Prince’s Wife’ (tentative title) and working on music.

Hong Se-young, Donga.com reporter, projecthong@donga.com