A wave of controversy has erupted following ATEEZ‘s “unexpected” victory on KBS‘s Music Bank this week. Despite their digital scores being significantly lower than their competitors — aespa and NewJeans — ATEEZ managed to clinch the top spot, sparking heated debate online.
In the show’s scores per category, Aespa dominated the digitals with 3,882 points, while ATEEZ lagged far behind with just 19 points. However, ATEEZ excelled in other categories, scoring 3,625 points for broadcast appearances, 2,000 points in pre-voting, and 5,167 points for physical album sales.
Their combined total was 10,828 points, narrowly surpassing Aespa’s total of 9,876 points, which included strong showings in digital, pre-voting, and physical sales but a relatively lower broadcast score of 1,009.
Fans and netizens have since raised questions about the fairness of the broadcast score. ATEEZ’s high score in this category has drawn particular scrutiny. The scoring system, which rewards TV appearances and airplay, has been criticized for potentially skewing the results in favor of some groups and against others.
The controversy has since become a hot topic among Korean netizens, with one post on community site Pann reaching more than 73,400 views and over a hundred comments. The most liked ones slam Music Bank and ATEEZ for the “controversial” win. One netizen even claimed the digital gap between the two groups is “laughable.”
- “I’ve stopped paying attention to Music Bank scores a long time ago. LOL”
- “Music Bank has become as irrelevant as The Show or Show Champion.”
- “Who are ATEEZ? This is the first time I’ve heard of them.”
- “ATEEZ’s broadcast score was in the 3,000s while Aespa’s was just over 1,000. Are they saying ATEEZ’s song was played more than Supernova? LOL. Music Bank hasn’t fixed their issues since the days with Lim Young Woong.”
- “The digital score gap is ridiculous. It’s laughable.”
- “Supernova is in its third week, and ATEEZ just made a comeback last week. Naturally, their broadcast score is high because they’ve been promoting their new song a lot. It’s frustrating that people are attacking them based on misinformation.”
Source: Pann
