Which songs were most loved in streaming in the first half of 2026? We looked back through Hanteo Chart data.
Key metrics for the top five acts on the Hanteo streaming chart in the first half of 2026.
Multiply each act’s cumulative plays by its song length and you get the time you’d spend listening nonstop without a single pause. Rewind that far into the past and which moment in history do you reach? Here’s a cake to celebrate that span.
Imagine one person per play, all at once — you’d need that many people. Which country or city’s population is that headcount closest to?
The Hanteo World Chart crowns a weekly #1 in three regions — USA, Japan, and China. Across the 26 weeks of the 2026 first half, the three countries’ tastes diverge sharply.
Of the 26 weeks in the 2026 first half, 17 weeks (65%) went to HYBE artists. Led by BTS (5×) and ENHYPEN (4×), a total of eight acts reached #1.
Only BTS (3 weeks) and NCT Jeno & Jaemin (2 weeks) held #1 consecutively; almost every week a new face took the top. The most varied of the three countries, with 18 acts reaching #1.
Unlike Japan, across 26 weeks the same artists topped the chart repeatedly. BTS and CORTIS each hit #1 seven times, aespa five, and EXO three; only 7 acts in total earned a Chinese #1.
From week 3 of March to week 2 of April, #1 in all three regions — USA, Japan, and China — for 4 straight weeks. The only stretch in the half-year when all three charts’ summits belonged to a single act.
The Hanteo streaming-score TOP 30 for each period: the 2026 H1 cumulative plus January through June. Tap a tab to see that ranking.
Bar length shows the score relative to #1 in each table (Hanteo streaming score).
What the first-half 2026 Hanteo streaming data shows is
not the sparkle of a single song, but time piled up by playback that never stops.
The top five acts’ cumulative plays swelled to the scale of centuries and of a nation’s population,
and K-pop has become a sound the world plays on infinite repeat.