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Blackpink's Jennie named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People

Published: 16 Apr. 2026, 09:28

Blackpink member Jennie attends the The 17th Melon Music Awards held at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro District, western Seoul, on Dec. 20, 2025. [NEWS1]

K-pop star Jennie has been named one of Time magazine’s "100 Most Influential People of the Year," according to the outlet on Wednesday.

She is the only Korean on this year's list among 99 other prominent figures, including American rapper Anderson .Paak, American actor Dakota Johnson, Korean American snowboarder Chloe Kim, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

Gracie Abrams, a Grammy-nominated musician, introduced Jennie in the article as having "magic at her core."

"The power that draws you into 'Jennie the Artist' when you’re watching her onscreen or as one of 100,000 people in a stadium — is identical to the power she carries when you find her in the corner of a party or run into her in a backstage hallway," Abrams wrote.

Jennie, 30, debuted as one of four members of K-pop girl group Blackpink in 2016. best known for songs such as “Ddu-Du Ddu-Du” (2018) and “How You Like That” (2020), it has since made international inroads, becoming the first K-pop female act to perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2019 and later the first K-pop act to headline the event.

Jennie launched a solo career in November 2018 with the single “Solo.” The most recent album, “Ruby” (2025), had three tracks enter the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously, a first for a K-pop female solo artist. “Like Jennie,” a track on “Ruby,” was the most streamed K-pop song on Spotify in the first half of 2025.

An image from Jennie's solo album ″Ruby″ (2025) [OA ENTERTAINMENT]

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY JANG GU-SEUL [[email protected]]