For K-pop fans who have followed the genre’s chart history closely, the winter of 2023 delivered a moment that felt almost impossible to process in real time. In a report by AllKpop, NewJeans’ “Ditto” was on the verge of doing something no other song had managed to do: overtake BTS’s “Dynamite” for the most Perfect All-Kills in iChart history. At the time, “Ditto” had already collected over 600 PAKs, with “Dynamite” sitting at 610. The gap was just a few hours. The momentum was undeniable. And soon enough, the record that had belonged to BTS since 2020 was gone.
A Perfect All-Kill, for those unfamiliar with the mechanics of the Korean digital music ecosystem, is not a casual benchmark. It requires a song to simultaneously top the real-time, daily, and weekly charts on iChart, which aggregates performance across Melon, Genie Music, YouTube Music, FLO, VIBE, and Bugs. In practice, a PAK represents total dominance across every major streaming platform in the country at once. It is difficult to achieve for a single hour. Maintaining it for hundreds of hours requires a level of public obsession that few releases ever generate. “Dynamite” had been the standard-bearer with 610 PAKs. “Ditto” was not just approaching that number; it was accumulating PAKs at a pace that made the eventual outcome feel less like a question and more like a formality.
Based on the live tracking provided by Instiz, the moment eventually arrived when “Ditto” officially logged its 611th Perfect All-Kill, surpassing “Dynamite” and becoming the song with the most PAKs in iChart history. The record-setting did not stop there. The song was projected to continue adding to its total, and it did exactly that. By the time “Ditto” finally concluded its run, it had accumulated a staggering 655 hours of Perfect All-Kill status. This stood as the highest total PAK count for any song in history for over two years. For a rookie group that had debuted in July 2022, the achievement was almost absurd in its speed. NewJeans had released “Ditto” in December 2022 as the pre-release single from their OMG single album, and within weeks, the song had become a cultural fixture in South Korea, dominating charts, playlists, and public spaces in a way that felt entirely organic.
As highlighted by AllKpop, the reaction across the K-pop community was immediate. BTS’s “Dynamite” had held the record for the most PAKs since its release in August 2020. It had survived challenges from some of the biggest names in the industry. “Ditto” cleared the mark in less than two months. The implications were clear: NewJeans were not simply having a moment. They were rewriting the historical record books at a pace that suggested a fundamental shift in the K-pop chart landscape.
But the story of NewJeans after “Ditto” is not a straight line of uninterrupted triumph. In many ways, the record became a kind of high-water mark that the group would spend the following years trying to navigate around. The commercial success of “Ditto” and “OMG” was followed by more hits, including “Super Shy” and the chart-topping EP Get Up, which reached number one on the Billboard 200. The group’s momentum seemed unstoppable. Then came the internal turmoil that would put everything on hold.
However, following their initial rise, the group entered a period of severe dispute with their label. In late 2024, tension escalated between the members and ADOR (a subsidiary of HYBE) following the removal of former CEO Min Hee-jin. The members attempted to terminate their contracts, leading to legal proceedings in the Seoul Central District Court. In October 2025, the court ruled in ADOR’s favor, declaring that the contract remained valid through 2029. Following the ruling, members Haerin, Hyein, and Hanni returned to ADOR, while Minji entered positive discussions regarding her status. Conversely, ADOR officially terminated Danielle’s exclusive contract over alleged breaches, removing her from the group roster.
For over a year, the group existed in a state of suspended animation, with their last full performance occurring at ComplexCon Hong Kong in early 2025. The extended hiatus reflected a legal impasse rather than a creative break, leaving fans uncertain about the future.
The first real signal of a return came later when ADOR confirmed that members had traveled to Copenhagen as part of preparations for future musical activities. The agency described the trip as part of pre-production in its new musical journey. Fans had spotted Hanni, Haerin, and Hyein in the Danish city, and a confirmed studio reservation under the group’s name further fueled speculation that new recordings were underway. The news was cautious but concrete NewJeans were not disbanded. They were working.
Then, on the fourth anniversary of their debut, NewJeans released a surprise video titled 2026 Summer of NewJeans featuring Minji, Hanni, Haerin, and Hyein. It was the group’s first group-based content in one year and four months. The video did not come with a comeback date or an album announcement. ADOR framed it as commemorative content for fans, adding that detailed plans for future activities would be announced once talks were completed. But the symbolism was difficult to ignore. Minji’s inclusion in the video, despite her unresolved contractual situation, suggested that a four-member return was at least being seriously considered. Industry observers noted that the content represented progress toward a resumption of group activities.
What remains undeniable, however, is the scale of what Ditto accomplished. The 611 PAKs that surpassed Dynamite were not a fleeting spike. They were the foundation of a record that lasted for years. Even after a fictional group from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack eventually surpassed the 655-hour mark in 2025, Ditto remained the benchmark for real-world K-pop acts, the number that any new release hoping to claim chart immortality would have to chase. The song arrived at a moment when NewJeans were still establishing their identity, and it became the proof of concept for everything the group could be. Whatever the future holds for the remaining members and ADOR, that winter is already sealed into the historical record. The question now is whether the group that made Ditto can find its way back to the kind of clarity that made the song feel inevitable.
Hye Rin Choi is a writer and entrepreneur from Seoul, South Korea. She breathes Korean culture and history. She’s passionate and committed to helping people learn more about her fascinating country.