Lisa breaks BLACKPINK Hanteo record with ‘LALISA’

“Jet black and pink crown belongs to we (BLACKPINK!),” Lisa sang in her solo debut single “Lalisa”.

And she proved that numbers speak louder than words, as her solo debut album “LALISA” has sold 729,662 copies and counting in its first week on South Korea’s Hanteo Chart. Lisa had already become the female soloist with the highest first week sales on Hanteo on Sept. 14. Now she has broken BLACKPINK’s record of 689,066 copies to dethrone her own group and have the highest first-week sales by a female artist on Hanteo. She also becomes only the sixth artist to exceed 700,000 in first week sales on Hanteo.

Haters had predicted that Lisa’s solo debut album would flop, but instead “LALISA” surpassed 700,000 stock pre-orders worldwide, setting a new record for a female K-pop soloist. Afterwards, the music video of “LALISA” generated 73.6 million views in the first 24 hours when it debuted on Sept. 10, breaking Taylor Swift’s previous record for a solo artist, which was 65 million views for “ME! (feat. Brandon Urie of Panic! At The Disco)”. Not only that, but also Lisa has scored the sixth biggest YouTube music debut of all time, overtaking BTS’ “Permission to Dance”, which racked up 72.3 million views in 24 hours. Yet toxic K-pop fans kept insisting “LALISA” was still a flop.

‘Believe in yourself’

[HT] 210916 @ 19:20 KST#Lisa (@BLACKPINK) 1st Single Album <LALISA> 242,086 copies sold (729,662 total) [7th Day] *still counting*#Lisa now holds the record for the female artist with the highest 1st week sales on Hanteo.

— KOREAN SALES (@koreansales_twt) September 16, 2021

The title of her solo debut album “LALISA” comes from the Thai name of Lisa. Her birth name is Pranpriya, but she changed her name to Lalisa (“one who is praised”) after a fortune teller told her it would bring her prosperity.

Lisa has dreamed of becoming a K-pop artist since childhood. In 2010, a then 13-year-old Lisa beat 3,999 other applicants during her audition. YG Entertainment had decided to hold its very first audition in Thailand. It was an open audition, with not only Thai applicants joining, but also South Koreans and other foreign nationals living in Thailand.

Artists who have exceeded 700K copies in the 1st week#EXO#BTS#SEVENTEEN#Baekhyun#NCTDREAM#Lisa ?

— KOREAN SALES (@koreansales_twt) September 16, 2021

The following year, she moved to Korea by herself to follow her dreams — without even knowing how to speak Korean — as YG Entertainment’s first non-Korean trainee. She became the agency’s first non-Korean idol when BLACKPINK debuted on Aug. 8, 2016.

“If you dream of becoming a superstar, and you get a reaction from people like, ‘Huh?! You?!’, just ignore those comments. Believe in yourself” Lisa said on the “Woody Show” on Sept. 11 in her first official interview in Thailand.