NewJeans could not return to Korea from the US and had to cancel activities scheduled for Friday after a flight system outage in the US grounded thousands of flights, announced agency Ador on Thursday.

The group was set to appear in a television music chart show and greet fans at an autograph session but was unable to catch a flight home due to the US' Federal Aviation Administration system outage. Even though the FAA restored the system and lifted the temporary halt, airline operators have had to delay or cancel flights to respond to the congestion.

Meanwhile, the rookie girl group recorded sales of over 1.5 million albums in six months, according to a local tally released on the day.

The single “OMG” sold more than 700,000 copies in the first week and close to 790,000 so far. Debut EP “New Jeans” sold almost 800,000 copies, after selling 310,000 in the first week, a record for a debut album from a girl group in K-pop history.

BTS earns iHeartRadio award nomination for 6th year

BTS was nominated for the iHeartRadio Music Awards for the sixth consecutive year.

It earned nominations in two categories -- best music video for “Yet To Come,” and Best Fan Army for its strong fandom. “Yet To Come” fronted its anthology album “Proof” that was released in June last year.

Jungkook also is a candidate on his own for the best music video award for that of “Left and Right,” a collaboration with Charlie Puth.

The award ceremony will be held on March 27 in Los Angeles.

Separately, “Proof” ranked No. 87 on Billboard 200 for the week of Jan. 14, extending its stay on the chart to the 30th week. RM’s first solo album, “Indigo,” was No. 71 on the chart after peaking at No. 3, a record for a K-pop solo musician.

SF9 hosts pop-up store in Seoul

SF9 will host a pop-up store in Seoul to mark the release of its 12th EP, said agency FNC Entertainment on Thursday.

The store promotes the EP “The Piece of 9” and follows a puzzle theme. The store will also offer messages from the bandmates and an exclusive range of photo cards. It will be open from Jan. 13-19.

The new EP came out on Monday and topped iTunes' top albums chart in four regions, and sat among the top three in 17 regions. Juho co-wrote the lyrics and melody for main track “Puzzle” and Hwiyoung also participated in writing the words. Rowoon rejoined after missing out on the previous EP, “The Wave of 9,” and the group's international tour last year as he was shooting the drama “Tomorrow.”

Lee Jin-hyuk to hold concerts in Seoul next month

Singer and actor Lee Jin-hyuk will host a standalone concert on Feb. 11-12, said agency TOP Media on Thursday.

The show is dubbed “4eVer,” combining the word "forever" and the name of his official fandom community V-Dan. It will mark his fourth anniversary as a solo musician.

Lee debuted as a member of the boy band Up10tion in 2015 and participated in the audition program “Produce X 101” in 2019, before going solo in November the same year. He has been appearing in a number of variety shows while building up his career as an actor in a series of dramas, including “Find Me In Your Memory” from 2020 and “Why Her” from last year.

By Hwang You-mee
(glamazon@heraldcorp.com)