BLACKPINK's "Massive" Drop In Streams And Sales Trigger "Flop" Allegations

BLACKPINK recently returned with “Go” the title track from their DEADLINE album.

Initially, the group’s album sales stood out, breaking a previous record and ranking among the highest first-day sales with over 1,460,000 copies sold. BLACKPINK’s streaming performance on Spotify was also noteworthy, with the title track debuting on Spotify Global’s chart at number 9, while the album as a whole is the fourth-highest ranking EP out of all K-Pop releases as classified by the platform.

a fully leaked album, no promo, no ads, no billboards, nothing. yet they managed to debut all songs from DEADLINE on global spotify. BLACKPINK, you legends! pic.twitter.com/L33Nycl2JR

— َ (@pinksview) February 28, 2026

On the subsequent days, however, the group saw drops in both physical sales and streaming.

According to Hanteo Chart, Deadline sold 7,109 and 2,026 copies on the second and third day of sales.

The second tracked day of streams saw the album’s tracks each drop on the global list, with the largest drop being of Fxxxboy by 147 spots.

#Spotify Daily Top 200 Songs Global (Feb 28, 2026)#HUNTRX #BLACKPINK #KATSEYE #Jin #ROSÉ #JENNIE #Jimin #JungKook

Do not re-upload, copy, or edit pic.twitter.com/v14GiPJGka

— ChartsKR bot (@ChartsKRbot) March 1, 2026

These results sparked ridicule towards the group, accusing them of having “flopped” after listeners did not return.

Everyone stopped buying after day 1 bc the music was ass? https://t.co/8OWYslNh3o

— ً (@gigglekook) March 1, 2026

we’re really witnessing the flop era and downfall of blackpink https://t.co/48R3xGvrL4

— andy ୨୧ (@andyxxiwu) March 1, 2026

Im crying they flopped so bad https://t.co/5QqvmtFRbD

— ICONIC ONCE 🍩 (@ICONICONCE) March 1, 2026

However, while these totals are lower than might be expected for the group, there are several factors to consider.

For one, it is the weekend, and many physical album stores may be closed or experiencing different work hours. BLACKPINK also do not have any fan signings or events where albums are purchased as raffle items, which a is also a method of contributing to increased album sales.

BLACKPINK are still on the Global Spotify chart at number 20, which is an impressive place among the other top artists in the world. Another thing to take into account regarding the streaming of the album is that two of the tracks included Dr. Luke in the credits, which might also contribute to lower streams for those specific tracks (“Champion” and “Me and my”).

As a result, many fans of the group have considered how a “flop” for BLACKPINK is actually impressive results.

BLACKPINK’s flopping era is them becoming the highest selling female K-Pop album on its first day and charting all of its songs on Global Spotify without proper promotions. BLACKPINK’s flop is every artists’ dream

— sam❦ (@samtypaboy) March 1, 2026

blackpink is so big that blinks think a #9 debut with 4.6M streams is bad 😭 that's how high the bar is for them lmfao

— ❇︎ (@globalpinks_) February 28, 2026

blackpink will never be the flop y’all so desperately want them to be https://t.co/nOo0vWaS7Y

— jendu (@iamjendu) March 1, 2026