Boombayah

"Boombayah" is a song by South Korean girl group Blackpink. It was released through YG Entertainment on August 8, 2016, simultaneously with "Whistle"; both tracks are on the group's debut single album titled Square One (2016).

"Boombayah" peaked at number seven on the Gaon Digital Chart and topped the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart, making Blackpink the fastest act to top the chart in history. It has since been certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for both its Korean and Japanese versions. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Seo Hyun-seung and was released alongside the single itself on Blackpink's YouTube channel. On October 13, 2020, it became the first K-pop debut music video to surpass 1 billion views on YouTube.

Background and release
"Boombayah" was released on August 8, 2016, at 8 p.m. KST (UTC+09:00) as a digital single titled Square One, coupled with "Whistle", through various digital music portals in South Korea.

Critical reception
The song received generally positive reviews from music critics. Jeff Benjamin of Billboard K-Town said that Blackpink "embraces the hip-hop sensibilities and club-ready sounds with which their seniors gained an international following", referring to their labelmates Psy, Big Bang and 2NE1, with the song's "booming" and "exotic beats".

Commercial performance
Commercially, "Boombayah" debuted at number seven on the Gaon Digital Chart in South Korea, selling 88,215 digital units and garnering 1,866,737 streams in its debut week. In the United States, "Bombayah" debuted at number one on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart for the week of August 27, 2016, ahead of their other single "Whistle" at number two. Both songs moved an estimated 6,000 digital units each in their first week of release, with "Boombayah" selling slightly more. Blackpink became only the seventh K-pop act to reach number one on the chart, joining the company of Psy, BigBang, 2NE1, Exo, CL, BTS, G-Dragon, and Taeyang. Blackpink broke the record for the fastest act to hit number one on the chart in history, and became only the third act to hold the top two positions after Psy and BigBang. Following the release of their second single album Square Two in November 2016, "Boombayah" moved from number 14 to 16 on the chart, surpassed by "Whistle". The track reached 12.7 million streams in the United Kingdom as of April 2019, and 23.4 million streams as of September 2022, becoming the group's fifth most streamed song in the country.

Music video and promotion
The music video for "Boombayah" was directed by Seo Hyun-seung, who had previously directed the music videos for "I Am the Best" by 2NE1 and "Fantastic Baby" by Big Bang. The video was released on Blackpink's official YouTube channel on August 8, 2016. As of December 2022, the video has surpassed 1.5 billion views.

Blackpink promoted "Boombayah" at their debut stage on SBS's Inkigayo on August 14, 2016. They subsequently promoted the song for the two following weeks on Inkigayo, and also performed "Boombayah" at the 26th Seoul Music Awards on January 19, 2017.

Usage in media
The song was featured in the Netflix television series Wu Assassins during a fight scene in "Drunken Watermelon", the first episode of the first season.

The song is featured on the dance rhythm game Just Dance 2022, which uses a modified version of the official choreography.

This song is featured in Despicable Me 4, during the scene where the Minions are causing mayhem in Karl's bus.

Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from Melon.
 * Blackpink – vocals
 * Teddy – composer, lyricist, arranger
 * Bekuh Boom – composer, lyricist