The song dominates the first spots in major Korean real-time music charts, such as Mnet, Bugs, Genie, Naver and Instiz.

Despite the singer’s one-and-a-half year hiatus, the song still managed to top Melon—a music site often regarded as a popularity benchmark—just an hour after release, making it the first to do so since the Korean chart reform in February.

Since the reform, artists are forced to release their music between 12 p.m and 6 p.m if they want it to be counted on the initial day of release.

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Previously, artists had typically released new music at midnight, when there are fewer users online, mirroring lesser competition for the no. 1 spots. The change was created “in pursuit of music charts fairly reflecting music popularity,” Korean community news site Soompi reported.

However, it did not affect IU’s music popularity, which is known to be chart-topping even prior to the reform. Among her chart-topping past releases are Twenty Three (2015), Red Shoes (2013) and Friday (2013).

Through the Night is an acoustic track about love and longing. It serves as a prerelease for the singer’s upcoming album, which is set to be released on upcoming Apr. 21.

Following the track, IU will also be releasing another prerelease track in collaboration with Oh Hyuk, vocalist of Indie band Hyukoh on Apr. 7. (mas/asw)

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