ILLIT can’t seem to catch a break, as controversy follows them every step of the way. Their successful debut was marred by accusations of plagiarism and a public feud between HYBE and ADOR, overshadowing their achievements.
Recently, the group’s title track Magnetic surpassed 200 million streams on Spotify, becoming the fastest K-pop group debut song to achieve this milestone.
Many netizens believe that ILLIT’s debut song, Magnetic‘s listening figures and streaming numbers were manipulated due to Spotify’s Autoplay.
Netizens vented about Spotify’s autoplay always queuing up Magnetic by ILLIT after specific songs. The fan feels this disrupts their music streaming experience and thinks the algorithm favors Magnetic over other tracks.
While the feature is akin to YouTube’s ad program and is permissible, some listeners are tired of being recommended the same song over and over again.
Netizens have noticed that the song Magnetic is automatically played after various artists’ tracks, including IVE, aespa, Ariana Grande, and Tyla. This has led to frustration among listeners, who are experiencing the same autoplay pattern repeatedly.
HYBE is currently dealing with allegations of manipulating sales figures, and now faces additional accusations that its newest group has artificially inflated streaming numbers through excessive use of auto-play promotions on Spotify.