NewJeans's LoL Worlds anthem 'Gods' surpasses 17M views on YouTube

"Gods," released Wednesday, brought more than 117,000 fans worldwide waiting for the song's premiere on YouTube and became the most-watched Worlds anthem on the first day of its release.

NewJeans sang ″Gods,″ the anthem for this year's League of Legends World Championships. [ADOR]

NewJeans's anthem for this year's League of Legends Worlds Championship garnered 7.8 million views on YouTube in the first 24 hours of its release, as Worlds kicks off Tuesday in Seoul.

"Gods," released Wednesday, brought more than 117,000 fans worldwide waiting for the song's premiere on YouTube and became the most-watched Worlds anthem on the first day of its release.

The song is currently at No. 1 on YouTube's most trending video in Korea and landed high in 46 different regions around the world. "Gods" received over 17 million views as of Tuesday.

NewJeans sang ″Gods,″ the anthem for this year's League of Legends World Championships [RIOT GAMES]

"Gods" made NewJeans the first K-pop group to sing an anthem for Worlds. Throughout the years, Worlds had many renowned singers singing its anthems, from the American pop rock band Imagine Dragons singing "Warriors" in 2014, American rapper and singer Lil Nas X singing "Star Walkin'" in 2022 and more.

Soyeon and Miyeon of girl group (G)I-DLE sang "Pop/Stars" (2018) with American singers Madison Beer and Jaira Burns. "Pop/Stars" is by K/DA, a girl group in the franchise's fictional universe, sung by real-life artists.

This year's League of Legends World Championship will be held in Seoul and Busan from Tuesday to Nov. 19, making it the first Worlds held in Korea in five years. The finals will be held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul.

NewJeans has been one of the biggest names in K-pop since its debut last year. Its hits "Ditto" (2022), "OMG" and "Hype boy" (2022) were the three most-streamed and downloaded songs in the first half of 2023, and the band's debut track "Attention" (2022) was the seventh most-streamed and downloaded song in Korea.

The band topped the Billboard 200 albums chart for the first time with its latest and second EP "Get Up" and saw its lead tracks "ETA," "Cool With You" and "Super Shy" top music charts in and outside of Korea for weeks.

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]