SM’s New Girl Group Hearts2Hearts Claims 1st Place on Fanbase Chart for 2 Consecutive Weeks After Debut; Shows Promising Global Growth

SM Entertainment’s new girl group Hearts2Hearts has continued to show strong growth since its debut, attracting significant attention from global fanbases. The music data analysis service K-pop Radar released its weekly fanbase chart on March 7, and Hearts2Hearts secured the top spot for the second week in a row with its debut song “The Chase.” During K-pop Radar’s first-week of March tracking period (February 27 to March 5, 2025), Hearts2Hearts’ music video accumulated 2.88 million views, and its Spotify follower count increased by 47,000. These figures far exceed the average K-pop growth rate of around 1,800 followers, reflecting the high level of interest from global fans. The group also experienced rapid growth on social media. During the same period, its Instagram followers rose by 279,000, while X (Twitter) followers increased by 23,000—numbers significantly higher than the average K-pop artist growth rates of 4,200 Instagram followers and 145 X followers. Hearts2Hearts is SM Entertainment’s first new girl group in five years since aespa. Notably, the group’s composition features international members. Carmen, an Indonesian citizen born in Bali (real name: Nyoman Ayu Carmentia, born in 2006), is one of its members, marking a new precedent for a major agency to debut an idol from abroad. Carmen’s debut holds special significance for the Indonesian fanbase, as there had been no Indonesian-born idols debuting in Korea before, but this marks the first time such an idol has debuted under a major agency. SM Entertainment has a long history of discovering idol candidates of various nationalities through global and online auditions. K-pop Radar stated, “Given that Hearts2Hearts is SM’s new multi-member girl group, its future performance is even more anticipated.” This week, several new groups made it onto K-pop Radar’s Weekly Fanbase Chart Top 10. The group NewJeans’ “N.I.N” ranked 7th, the group LE SSERAFIM’s “Zelo” came in at 9th, and the group IVE’s “Carmen” finished in 10th place. The Weekly Fanbase Chart is known as the only K-pop-specific chart that uses data from major global platforms such as YouTube, X, Instagram, and Spotify, reflecting the fact that over 90% of K-pop consumption occurs overseas.