From making music to acting, IU seems to do it all — and she commands unmatched love and support from K-pop fans and the broader Korean music community. Her generation-spanning popularity was on full display in 2024, when she dominated the charts.
Her single, “Love Wins All,” soared to No. 1 on Melon’s TOP100 chart just an hour after its Jan. 24 release, becoming only the second song to achieve this milestone since the platform’s chart reform. The track led the weekly chart for four consecutive weeks, topped February’s monthly chart and achieved 339 perfect all-kills on iChart — a term describing when a song simultaneously tops iChart’s real-time, daily and weekly components.
The achievements cemented IU’s status as a global powerhouse, earning her recognition as Korea’s representative for Billboard’s Global No. 1 Artist series. “It’s a bit humbling, a bit surreal, and honestly, it feels really special,” IU said of the honor.
IU’s success extended beyond the charts to a record-breaking world tour. Beginning March 2, she performed 31 shows across Japan, Europe and North America, drawing half a million fans — a record for a Korean female solo artist. The tour included four sold-out shows at Seoul’s KSPO Dome and a landmark performance at Manila’s Philippine Arena, the world’s largest indoor venue, where she became the first Korean solo artist to headline.
On Sept. 21 and 22, IU capped off her tour with encore concerts at Seoul World Cup Stadium, becoming the first female artist to perform at the venue. The two-night event drew 107,000 attendees, setting a record for the largest concert engagement by a Korean solo artist and female artist in Korea.