TWICE Tzuyu’s Surprising Chart Performance Sparks Mixed Reactions

Earlier this year, fans of TWICE‘s Tzuyu were pleased to learn that she would be the group’s next member to make her solo debut.

TWICE’s Tzuyu | >i>SBS

The cleverly named abouTZU was released on September 6, featuring the title track “Run Away.” The album and the lead into it have shown fans a more mature side of the idol, known as the group’s “forever maknae.”

| JYP Entertainment

As of writing, abouTZU has sold 224,449 albums, with the first-day sales placing her in the top 7 highest first-day sales by a female solo artist on Hanteo.

| Hanteo

Highest 1st day sales by Female K-Pop Soloist on Hanteo:

#1. JISOO ME — 876k
#2. #JIHYO ZONE — 361k
#3. LISA LALISA — 330k
#4. #NAYEON NA — 286k
#5. ROSE R — 282k
#6. YUQI YUQ1 — 261k
#7. #TZUYU abouTZU — 220k* 🆕
#8. IU LILAC — 216k pic.twitter.com/GPRg4yAyAV

— GLOBAL TWICE 🏹 TZUYU IS COMING (@globaltwicee) September 6, 2024

Many have been impressed with her sales total, especially considering she is a foreign female artist.

A Foreign Artist Did that 😭🔥🙌🏻❤️ https://t.co/pbySVL8anf

— toxic baby leo (@prince_sonio_) September 6, 2024

She did amazing despite frozen sales. She’s also a foreign artist debuting solo in Korea. This is amazing 👏👏👏 https://t.co/1jb8lFhPwG

— everything Tzuyu | TZULO🏹 | (@tzuyu_nation) September 6, 2024

However, her streaming performance on charts has earned mixed reactions from fans.

When the album was first released, “Run Away” charted on the Korean platform Bugs at number 1. While many were impressed with this feat, remarking that no TWICE recent releases had achieved that rank on this specific chart…

TZUYU debuted #1 on Bugs Realtime Chart as of 2PM KST! 🫨🫨🫨🫨🫨pic.twitter.com/3L6G4CdBuo

— TWICE SOCIAL 🏹 (@twicebsocial) September 6, 2024

Ok periodddd hello? When’s the last time a twice song was #1 on bugs?! Let alone a debutttt https://t.co/41KfXxay3z

— ONCES FOLLOW ME (@popofthek) September 6, 2024

You don't know how it's so huge for a taiwanese artist to enter the top1 of a Korean chart 👏🏻🤍 Chou TZUYU we're so proud of you https://t.co/GWOJrIeM9s https://t.co/nmcMR8oMwV

— MinMin #abouTZU #MiSaMo (@SafaNour9913) September 6, 2024

…others brought up her lack rankings on other charts like MelOn and Genie. The idol’s ranking at 327 on MelOn’s Daily Chart also earned surprised reactions.

only charted on 1 chart…..😭 damn …. https://t.co/8Mc8Nhbl5Y

— Mani(✶) (@DEARKATSBLANK) September 6, 2024

this song's awesome like wtf happened https://t.co/jwtTNcHzdI

— BABY I'M A ROCKSTAR (@ijboland) September 7, 2024

@jypnation This is what happen when you don't promote.🙂🙃 https://t.co/Fux1YnoSJF

— Kyle Mark | NA🦋 | DIVE🫧 | abouTZU🏹 (@mark296511) September 7, 2024

Her official debut on Spotify came in at 853K streams, and though this was an impressive amount, she did not chart in Spotify‘s Top Artists and Spotify Global charts. This also earned similar mixed reactions, with some claiming that a lack of promotion from JYP Entertainment affected her performance. 

The qrts acting like Tzuyu not having ANY promos on any music streaming platform plus no ads didn’t happen. She got those numbers with NO help from her company. She’s not even Korean and still did amazing considering her difficult position like are y’all dumb? https://t.co/QdLK8Dd1wd

— 🔡🕵🏻‍♀️🏹⁹ (@ericaxtwice) September 7, 2024

BRO TZUYU’s RUN AWAY DEBUTED WITH LIKE 850K STREAMS, YALL. pic.twitter.com/KpnltgUG97

— ٰ (@soheessences) September 7, 2024

The quotes taking me out, like yes 850k is good but at the end of the day, this number could have been higher if JYPE actually promoted this album but anyways, keep streaming. https://t.co/1HquSGZTAS

— ༊࿐ ͎. ｡˚ ° ⊹ ˚. (@j3llydelly) September 8, 2024

While the stats of her debut may have created mixed feelings, there is no denying that it is an amazing feat for Tzuyu to debut as a foreign artist, and her success can be measured in more ways than charts.