Ddu-Du Ddu-Du
"Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" is a song recorded by South Korean girl group Blackpink, released on June 15, 2018 by YG Entertainment, as the lead single for the group's Korean debut extended play Square Up, also released simultaneously with the single. It was written and produced by Teddy Park, together with 24, Bekuh Boom and R.Tee.
The single was a commercial success in South Korea, peaking atop the Gaon Digital Chart for three consecutive weeks. Its accompanying music video was released on the same day and became the most viewed online video, and second most watched music video of all time within 24 hours, at the time of its release. It has since become the first and fastest music video by a K-pop group to reach 1 billion views, and it is currently the most-viewed music video by a K-pop group on YouTube. As of June 2020, it has over 1.2 billion views.
The song featured in the fourth episode of season three of Freeform series The Bold Type. A future bass and hip hop remix of the track was released as a bonus inclusion on the group's subsequent EP, Kill This Love.
Composition
"Ddu-Du-Ddu-Du" is primarily written in the key of E minor while borrowing some notes from the E Phrygian scale at 140 beats per minute, common time. It uses the notes from E Aeolian and Phrygian scale throughout the whole song. The song starts with E minor for intro and the verse until it modulates to the relative key of G major for the pre-chorus.The song is described by Billboard as a "fierce hip-pop track overflowing with charisma" that "features a prominent trap beat". Forbes noted that the song combines "crisp trap beats, breezy synth hooks and infectious vocal melodies." It was written and produced by Teddy and co-produced by Bekuh Boom, 24 and R.Tee.
Music video
On June 15, at 6 pm KST, "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" was released along with its music video through several music portals, including Melon in South Korea and iTunes in other countries. The music video premiered on Mnet.On June 18, the dance practice video for "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" was released on both Blackpink's official YouTube and V Live channel.
As of May 2020, the dance practice video has received over 300 million views on YouTube.
The music video became the most viewed online video in the first 24 hours by a Korean act and second most watched music video of all time with more than 36.2 million views within 24 hours after release, surpassing Psy's "Gentleman" and behind only Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do". It later dropped to number three after BTS' "Idol" garnered over 45+ million views in 24 hours. The music video also hit 100 million views in just 10 days, making “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” the only music video by an all-female group to achieve the feat in such short amount of time. In November 2018, five months after the video's release, it became the fastest music video by a K-pop group to reach 500 million views, and it became the fifth most viewed K-pop video of all time at the time. On January 13, 2019, the video became the fastest music video by a K-pop group to reach 600 million views, and the second music video from a K-pop group to achieve that milestone. On January 21, the video became the most-viewed music video by a K-pop group on YouTube, with 620.9 million views; since its release, the video averaged 2.5 million views per day, with 1.95 million daily views in January 2019. On March 9, 2019, the music video reached 700 million views making it the first K-pop group music video to reach 700 million views on YouTube. On May 12, 2019, the music video reached 800 million views on YouTube, making them the first K-pop group to do so. As of June 2020, the video has surpassed 1.2 billion views.
Rolling Stone named it the eighth best music video of 2018, describing it as "a feat of bonkers, maximalist creativity that includes the best use of a tank in a music video since Master P’s 'Make 'Em Say Uhh!.'"
On November 11, 2019, 6:50pm KST, the music video for the single surpassed 1 billion views, being the first K-pop group, second girl group and fourth group to do so.
Commercial performance
Within its first hour of release, "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" debuted at number one on the five major music charts in South Korea, and number two on one. It achieved the perfect all-kill status, simultaneously topping all daily and realtime charts, in addition to the weekly iChart. The song managed to get 93 hourly perfect all-kills, the most for any Korean girl group, and second most for groups overall, just behind labelmate iKon, whose song Love Scenario had 204 hourly perfect all-kills. The song topped the Gaon Digital Chart for three consecutive weeks. It also had the highest score on the Gaon Chart Heat Index for a song in a single week, with 81 million in its second week. As of August 2019, the song has surpassed 1.1 billion on the heat index.In November 2018, the song was certified platinum by Gaon for surpassing 100 million streams. In March 2019, it was certified platinum by Gaon for selling over 2.5 million downloads. The song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on August 22, 2019, for 500,000 single-equivalent units; it is the first song by a South Korean girl group to receive RIAA certification.
The music video for the single achieved a billion views on YouTube on November 11, 2019, while its dance practice version has almost 300 million views. The single has more than 1.7 billion views on YouTube. The single also has achieved over 300 million streams on Spotify as of April 2020. The single also has since then been streamed 180 million times in Korea. The single has already surpassed 2.2 billion streams worldwide.
As of April 2020, the single has sold 3.2 million digital copies in South Korea, 2.3 million digital copies in China and over 110,000 digital copies in the United States, bringing the total sales to 5.61 million digital copies. Cumulatively, the single has sold more than 14 million units worldwide.
Promotion
Blackpink promoted the song on several music programs in South Korea including Show! Music Core and Inkigayo.On February 12, 2019, Blackpink made their American television debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert performing the song on the 55th anniversary of The Beatles' American television debut in the same theater.
Japanese version
On August 17, it was announced that the Japanese version will be released as a physical single on August 22. It will include all the songs from their debut EP Square Up plus the Japanese version of the song. It will be released in three versions: CD+DVD, CD, and CD for each member.The single debuted at number 6 on the Oricon Daily Singles Chart and peaked at number 2 in its sixth day with 3,725 copies sold. The single debuted at number 7 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart with 24,385 copies sold.
The song placed at number 57 at Billboard Japan Hot 100 Year End chart, placing 46 in Top Streaming Songs.
As of October 2019, the music video has received over 7 million views on YouTube.
Track listing
Accolades
| Year | Organization | Award | Result | |
| 2018 | Melon Music Awards | Song of the Year | ||
| 2018 | MBC Plus X Genie Music Awards | Dance Track | ||
| 2018 | MTV Video Music Awards Japan | Best Dance Video | ||
| 2018 | Mnet Asian Music Awards | Best Music Video | ||
| 2018 | Mnet Asian Music Awards | Best Dance Performance – Female Group | ||
| 2018 | Mnet Asian Music Awards | Song of the Year | ||
| 2019 | Gaon Chart Music Awards | Song of the Year – June | ||
| 2019 | Golden Disc Awards | Digital Bonsang | ||
| 2019 | Teen Choice Awards | Choice Song: Group |
Melon Popularity Award
Year-end lists
| Publication | Accolade | Rank / Year | |
| British GQ | Best K-Pop songs of the decade | Year of 2018 |