Song Joong-ki (Photo : KBS 2TV)
Is “Descendants of the Sun” actor Song Joong-ki a flash in the pan enjoying his 15 minutes of fame? Does he have longevity to stay in the limelight now that the 16-episode blockbuster drama is over and chances of a Season 2 are very slim?
One reason for non-fans of the 30-year-old actor to ask those two questions is that in Forbes’s latest list of Top 10 South Korean celebrities, the actor who played Army Captain Yoo Si Jin came in only seventh on the list. Number one on the roster is PSY, the man who shot to fame via “Gangnam Style” which has 1.4 billion hits on YouTube and 40 million digital download, giving him a gross income of $40 million plus in 2012.
After PSY, came Girls Generation female band; Son Yeon Jae, the rhythmic gymnast who was fifth overall in the 2012 London Olympics finals; actor Kim Soo-Hyun; the Bigbang male band; and Park Tae-Hwa, the silver medalist in the men’s 400-meter freestyle swimming event also in London.
Song was cited for his starring in the TV series “The Innocent Man” and a main roles in the movie “A Werewolf Boy.” After Song came female singer IU, then figure skater Yuna Kim who announced her retirement after the 2014 Sochi Olympics and boy band Super Junior.
However, fans of Song would likely disagree with the listing which apparently based it on 2012 achievements before “Descendants of the Sun” aired simultaneously over KBS 2V and Chinese video platform iQiyi.
Yonhap reported that as of Sunday, “Descendants of the Sun” got 2.7 billion cumulative views on iQiyi, breaking the record set by Kim Soo-Hyun – who was fourth on Forbes’s list – and Jun Ji-hyun for the South Korean romcom series “My Love From the Stars” which aired from Dec. 18, 2013 through Feb. 27, 2014.
iQiyi also shared that over 70 percent of Chinese viewers of “Descendants of the Sun” were attracted to Yoo Si Jin. Almost 77 percent watched the 16 episodes from their mobile phones, while over 90 percent came from the “julinghou” generation which refers to those born from the 1990s.
Since the hallyu was searched 12.83 billion times on Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging site, several Chinese retail giants plan to enter into promotional contracts with the stars of “Descendants of the Sun” which airs a 3-day special on April 20 through 22.
