Netizens Find ILLIT’s Successful Debut Suspicious

Recently, the new HYBE girl group ILLIT made their debut.

Formed through the survival show R U Next?, ILLIT’s debut has been long awaited by many as the group. Even before their debut, ILLIT was a hot topic for good and “bad” reasons, losing a member before release.

ILLIT debuted on March 25 with “Magnetic,” a track that initially yielded comparisons to NewJeans and LE SSERAFIM.

As of writing, the music video has just over 18.2 million views, and the group have sold 291,988 albums, according to the Hanteo Chart. This success is also seen in their streaming totals, including on Spotify, where they have over 1 million monthly listeners and have broken the record for first-week streams on a debut album.

Biggest first week streaming for debut albums by K-POP groups of all time on Spotify:

1. #SUPER_REAL_ME — 18.1M**
2. New Jeans – 15.6M
3. The Dream Chapter: Star – 13.6M
4. FEARLESS – 12.1M
5. YOUTH IN THE SHADE – 11.2M

** still counting, 3 days left#아이린 #ILLIT pic.twitter.com/HWeudbSS8i

— ILLIT SPOTIFY (@illitonspotify) March 30, 2024

However, this success has been met with some skepticism from netizens.

On tweets recounting the group’s streaming totals, many have accused HYBE of paying for the group’s success, or payola, for their debut to stand out. Some even used established groups’ streaming numbers to express their disbelief.

HYBE have really outdone themselves with the payola this time. You've got to respect it atp. https://t.co/7ice9LyAMF

— Donda (@elsedonda) March 28, 2024

I’m sorry but no one’s believing this “success” is organic https://t.co/vbfyWDSz2W

— Woh (@wosheey) March 27, 2024

471k in US alone when you just debuted is why nobody takes any of hype’s artists seriously
It’s all fake crap https://t.co/Yhibpbe2c1

— ꪑ꠸ᥴꫝꪖ (@Petrichor4v) March 27, 2024

And you want me to believe that a one week old group legitimately gained fans that fast https://t.co/0FQibAzxZd

— َ (@YuqiVirus) March 29, 2024

Many defended the group’s success, citing various reasons why their success was so great immediately.

Besides being from HYBE, one of the largest and most known entertainment companies, the group’s pre-debut activities created a fanbase. Many watched the group on the show as they were formed, and any negative reactions only served to bring more attention to the group.

Others reminded that songs trending on TikTok often reach a wider audience, as seen with the success of “Cupid.”

Not even hating but like is it just me or their song has been all over my fyp on TT? Because if it’s not just me. It made sense how they reach that high right? TT is literally everything these days https://t.co/I3Ra4Jck7P

— ()ᴸ¹⁴⁸⁵ (@JYAckerman123) March 28, 2024

“hybe payo-“ NO!! they came from a reality show, of course they built a predebut fanbase, also their song has been trending on tiktok even before it was released and when they debuted ppl really liked the song so they are streaming https://t.co/pbptmo0xUt

— 슙슙 (@pookiesuga) March 27, 2024

stantwt made hit tweets hating these girls since september of last year, willingly promoted them to more audience with their shady posts and giving them the hype, and now they're wondering why these girls are getting this results lmao https://t.co/HzsQ2Pq9KK

— ey ˃ ⤙ ˂ (@SEOULCITE) March 28, 2024

These complaints about ILLIT’s success also include those linked to the ongoing HYBE boycott, which you can read about below.

TXT Fans Push Back Against Pro-Palestine HYBE Boycotts, Calling Out “Hypocrisy”