*By Christian Smith*
Led by such expertly stylized groups as the [chart-topping](https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/chart-beat/8458036/bts-earns-first-no-1-album-billboard-200-chart-love-yourself-tear) BTS, K-pop may be South Korea's biggest cultural export, scaling American music charts thanks almost entirely to fans cultivated on social media.
Six of the top 10 artists on the Billboard [Social 50](https://www.billboard.com/charts/social-50) this week are K-pop stars. The chart tracks artists' social media reach in the United States, where K-pop has exploded despite language and other cultural barriers.
"There was no radio play, there was no TV exposure, there was just no mainstream avenues to access K-pop," said Angela Killoren, the COO of the company that produces KCON, the largest Korean culture convention in the United States. Killoren credits fans' enthusiasm for K-pop stars spread online with the genre's rapid rise outside South Korea.
"Since the very beginning, K-pop artists have really embraced social media and having this direct communication with fans," Killoren said. "I think there's always a lot of trends that you see in K-pop that then later on go on to other genres of music as well."
K-pop entered the American mainstream in 2009, when BoA became the first artist in the genre to chart an album on the Billboard 200. By the time Psy's viral hit "Gangnam Style" took over in 2012, K-pop was a regular part of the American soundtrack.
The ubiquitous success of "Gangnam Style" is one reason why K-pop events like KCON have become so popular in the U.S. [Almost 130,000](http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-kcon2018-20180813-story.html) fans from all over the country converged on the Los Angeles Convention Center and the Staples Center this week to meet their favorite K-pop artists, who rarely tour in the U.S., and to celebrate the latest in Korean culture.
"We knew we had a really passionate fan, and we wanted to figure out something we knew would be an amazing experience for them, but the fan now is creating an amazing experience for everyone else," Killoren said. "The energy and the number of people who come to KCON has just exploded and it’s been great."
For more on this story, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/kpop-the-musical-shows-how-k-pop-bands-are-made).
Joe Cecela, Dream Exchange CEO, explains how they are aiming to form the first minority-controlled company to operate an exchange in U.S. history. Watch!
A Michigan judge is putting sponges in the hands of shoplifters and ordering them to wash cars in a Walmart parking lot when spring weather arrives. Genesee County Judge Jeffrey Clothier hopes the unusual form of community service discourages people from stealing from Walmart. The judge also wants to reward shoppers with free car washes. Clothier says he began ordering “Walmart wash” sentences this week for shoplifting at the store in Grand Blanc Township. He believes 75 to 100 people eventually will be ordered to wash cars this spring. Clothier says he will be washing cars alongside them when the time comes.
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You'll just have to wait for interest rates (and prices) to go down. Plus, this deal's a steel, the big carmaker wedding is off, and bribery is back, baby!
It’s a chicken-and-egg problem: Restaurants are struggling with record-high U.S. egg prices, but their omelets, scrambles and huevos rancheros may be part of the problem. Breakfast is booming at U.S. eateries. First Watch, a restaurant chain that serves breakfast, brunch and lunch, nearly quadrupled its locations over the past decade to 570. Fast-food chains like Starbucks and Wendy's added more egg-filled breakfast items. In normal times, egg producers could meet the demand. But a bird flu outbreak that has forced them to slaughter their flocks is making supplies scarcer and pushing up prices. Some restaurants like Waffle House have added a surcharge to offset their costs.
William Falcon, CEO and Founder of Lightning AI, discusses the ongoing feud between Elon Musk and Sam Altman, and how everyday people can use AI in their lives.
