Hwarang emerges at top of popularity chart; beats Goblin and Legend of the Blue Sea

"Goblin" is now at number two and is followed by Lee Min Ho's hit series "Legend of the Blue Sea."

Hwarang: The Beginning
Hwarang: The Beginning Wikimedia Commons

Within a very short time, "Hwarang" gained a lot of popularity and followers. In fact, since the very first episode of the KBS historical series in mid-December 2016, people showed love and admiration for the K-drama. And, it is now reaching new heights dethroning other popular South Korean dramas.

According to Yibada, the historical series, recently bested two of the most popular South Korean dramas "Goblin" and "Legend of the Blue Sea," in terms of TV popularity.

The historical series "Hwarang", during its debut week itself got impressive numbers on a TV popularity chart. As cited by Yonhap News, the KBS drama reached a Content Power Index score of 292.4 points in the week period Dec. 19, 2016, until Dec. 25, 2016.

The KBS historical drama made a place for itself after beating the famous tvN fantasy series "Goblin" which has been on the top of the said chart for several weeks. Reportedly, Gong Yoo's drama, "Goblin" with a score of 282.9 points, is now at number two and is followed by Lee Min Ho's hit series "Legend of the Blue Sea."

According to the reports, the other K-dramas in the top ten of the Content Power Index include, "Romantic Doctor Kim" which is at number four. Whereas, the MBC series "Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo" made a great leap and jumped 11 spots and is now at the seventh spot.

To list was compiled after going through the data of various South Korean TV programs that were being aired at a specific week period.

The star studded cast of "Hwarang" include several singers and talented actors such as Park Seo Joon, BTS' V, SHINee's Min Ho, ZEA singer Park Hyung Sik, Kim Tae Hyung and others.

"The KBS drama posted mostly low single-digit TV ratings. To-date, the historical series' reached its highest viewership share during episode 3 with a rating of 13.1 percent," Nielsen Korea said, according to TV Report.

This article was first published on January 5, 2017