Music Bank

Music Bank (Korean: 뮤직뱅크) is a South Korean music television program broadcast by KBS. It airs live every Friday at 6:40PM. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform live on stage. It is hosted by actor Song Joong-Ki and actress Seo Hyo Rim.

History

Prior to Music Bank, Top 10 Songs (가요톱10) debuted in 1981 airing live at 6:30 PM on Fridays and aired until 1998. For the first few months of 1998, Bravo New Generation took its place, but due to low ratings, it was quickly replaced by Music Bank on June 18, 1998. The chart format that was used since Top 10 Songs was abandoned in late 2001 due to controversy and was changed into a request format.

In 2005, the show was moved to Sunday afternoons at 12:45 PM and became a recorded broadcast. Due to sinking ratings, in September 2007, the show returned back to its original timeslot of Fridays evenings at 6:30 PM and returned to a live format. The charts were revived as category-based charts.

In January 2008, the category-based charts were combined into the K-Chart which is the familiar countdown chart and the only program to do so. In June 2008, the show extended to 70 mins, airing from 6:30 PM to 7:40 PM making it the longest music program on air. In November 2008, as part of the Autumn format changes, the show began airing from 6:40 PM to 8:00 PM for 80 mins.

K-Chart

K-Chart is the countdown charts of Music Bank. The charts are calculated by combining the Digital Music Charts (60%), Album Sales (15%), Number of hits on TV (15%), and Viewers Choice Charts (10%)^[1]. The Top 50 songs of the week are featured on the show, where the Top 21-50 songs shown via marquee and the Top 20-4 songs are featured by the hosts. Hosts show the three music and announce who will be the winner of the every week. The Number 1 song on the chart is the winner of that weeks chart and receives an award.

Prior to the combined K-Charts, category-based charts were used. Every week, a different category (Digital Music Charts, Karaoke Charts, Viewers Choice Charts, Album Sales Charts) was featured. Technically, each category would only be featured once a month. It was similar to K-Chart except the results each week could only be based on a specific chart, and not all the charts together. The current record holder of First Place wins belongs to girl group Girls' Generation, whose song Gee won a total of eleven times, nine of which were consecutive. Girls' Generation also holds the record for the most K-Chart points for Oh!, achieving a total of 23,077 points on their comeback stage.