South Korea’s most-streamed track in the first half of the year was not a BTS comeback single, but ‘Landing In Love’ by indie singer-songwriter Hanroro, according to data from the Korea Popmusic Industry Association. BTS claimed the period’s best-selling album, yet Hanroro led streaming activity.
Chad Won, A&R at Beautiful Noise, explained the cultural context behind her rise. “Currently in Korea, a sensibility known in Japan as ‘menhera’ is dominantly popular. While this word originally refers to an unstable and sick mental state, it is now used more as an aesthetic representing unstable youth,” Won said. “Hanroro’s work ‘Grapefruit Apricot Club’ and her hit song ‘0+0’ pierce through this exact point, garnering deep empathy from many by incorporating literary expressions loved by Korean Gen Z, shocking content, and allusions to suicide.”
Jun-sang Lee, president of Chili Music Korea, described Hanroro as an “indie singer-songwriter reshaping Korea’s music scene, dominating streaming charts, selling out arenas and landing on bestseller lists simultaneously.”
Hanroro has received endorsements from BTS member RM and the group Le Sserafim, and last month was named to the 2026 class of YouTube’s emerging-artists program Foundry.
