FIFTY FIFTY’s “Cupid” made its debut in 100th place on the April 1 Billboard Hot 100 chart. It’s been a while since K-pop placing on the main music charts is no longer being news. However, a team just four months into their debut and still relatively unknown even in their home country making it onto the Hot 100 is worth a look into. They are only the sixth K-pop group to land on the chart after Wonder Girls, BTS, Black Pink, and New Jeans, and FIFTY FIFTY was the fastest to get there from the time of their debut.

“Cupid” was released on February 24. The English lyrics and the instrumental version came out along with the original Korean song. Right after the song was unveiled, parts of the song, “I’m feeling lonely” and “I gave a second chance to Cupid” started to crop up on TikTok in sped up versions. Songs are often sped up to include more of the key parts of the song in the short form videos.  It’s a simple tweak that doesn’t require any special skills and is perfect for TikTok dance videos that are usually made up of hand movements. A few days later the choreography version danced to the sped-up version was uploaded. The song went viral shortly after, and the subsequent events happened in a flurry.

A song’s presence on TikTok has no effect on its chart rankings. However, going viral on TikTok does lead to more streaming. This isn’t just because the short form platform users listen to the song more. Streaming service playlists also serve as a means for quickly introducing songs that are trending on other platforms. Naturally, “Cupid” made it onto the Spotify playlist called New Music K-Pop, which covers all of Korea’s latest offerings, over the weekend of its release. This is where most songs peak. But TikTok kept breathing new life into “Cupid” and by March, the song was added to Pop Sauce. It is a playlist for new artists and songs that are highly likely to become huge hits. The song debuted in 12th place on the March 25 Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart, based on its streaming performance during this time. This is the chart that lists 25 songs that are barely below the Hot 100.

By mid-March, the song made it onto two playlists with 3 million followers each: Pop Rising, which lists songs that are just gaining popularity, and big on the internet, which is self-explanatory. This is when “Cupid” starts to pop up on Spotify’s United States daily chart. The song’s streaming performance over this period sent them to the April 1 Hot 100 Chart. More precisely, their stats from March 17 to 23 were reflected in the April 1 chart. With that, the song made it onto the most important list on Spotify - Today’s Top Hits - on March 24. It is a playlist with a huge following of about 33 million that features the 50 most popular songs. By then, even more people started streaming the song, and it is currently climbing higher up the chart; it placed 94th on April 8, and 85th on April 15. They hit 10th place on Spotify's United States daily chart on April 13.

“Cupid” is a perfect example of making it onto one of the main charts after being blessed by TikTok. Many K-pop artists are focusing much of their efforts on short-form marketing, commonly in the form of TikTok challenges. In these cases, the artists are the main actors. With “Cupid,” the sped-up version, its choreography, and its spread, all spontaneously happened within the platform. The part that went viral wasn’t even the part that was being promoted, like the chorus or the part with the highlight choreography. It starts just before the highlight and ends right after the burst of the chorus. The lyrics are intuitive, the choreography is easy to express, and ends with a satisfying pull of the bow, which is a better fit for TikTok. This platform became a new path to success to artists like Lil Nas X, who is a historic example, to the increasingly numerous one hit wonders, but none of them were K-pop. When K-pop found a place in American pop culture through intricate planning, the possibility of unexpected success becomes a paradox. But when a good track, good English lyrics, and dance moves that goes with it comes together and hitches a ride with the trend, then even K-pop can get on the TikTok success bandwagon, too. “Cupid” showed us this. FIFTY FIFTY is still under TikTok rather than K-pop. Now let’s wait and see what this new ingredient added to K-pop can become.