BLACKPINK Ultimate Guide: Members, Music & 10th Anniversary
BLACKPINK at ten: the members, the discography that made them global, the DEADLINE era, and the anniversary event that divided BLINKs.
Ten Years, To the Day
BLACKPINK debuted on August 8, 2016. That makes August 8, 2026 the group’s tenth anniversary — a milestone very few K-pop groups reach, and one BLACKPINK arrives at from an unusual position: still active, still touring, and with all four members simultaneously running major solo careers.
This guide covers who they are, the releases that matter, where the group actually stands in 2026, and what happened with the anniversary event.
Who Are BLACKPINK?
A four-member girl group under YG Entertainment — Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa — who debuted with the single album SQUARE ONE, led by the double A-side “Whistle” and “BOOMBAYAH.”
Two structural facts shaped the decade that followed:
- They debuted small and scaled globally. A four-member lineup with a Thai member (Lisa) and a New Zealand-raised Korean member (Rosé) gave the group a natural international footing years before that was standard practice.
- YG released sparingly. BLACKPINK’s discography is famously compact for a group of their stature. That scarcity became a strategy — each release carried event weight — but it also became the fandom’s most persistent complaint.
Members
| Member | Position | Notable |
|---|---|---|
| Jisoo | Vocalist, visual | Oldest member; acting career alongside music |
| Jennie | Rapper, vocalist | Runs her own label, ODD ATELIER |
| Rosé | Main vocalist | Raised in New Zealand and Australia; guitarist |
| Lisa | Main dancer, rapper | Thai; among the most-followed musicians globally |
All four now operate with individual arrangements outside the group unit, which is exactly why group activities require cross-label coordination — a detail that became visible in the anniversary announcement below.
The Discography That Built Them
| Release | Year | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| SQUARE ONE | 2016 | The debut — “Whistle” and “BOOMBAYAH” |
| SQUARE TWO | 2016 | ”Playing With Fire,” the group’s first real ballad-adjacent hit |
| ”As If It’s Your Last” | 2017 | A brighter outlier that became a fan favourite |
| SQUARE UP | 2018 | ”DDU-DU DDU-DU” — the song that broke them internationally |
| Kill This Love | 2019 | The EP that preceded their first Coachella appearance |
| THE ALBUM | 2020 | First full-length studio album, with “How You Like That” and “Lovesick Girls” |
| BORN PINK | 2022 | Second studio album, “Pink Venom” and “Shut Down” |
| DEADLINE | 2026 | Third mini album, released February 27 — their first full-group release in roughly four years |
The gap between BORN PINK and DEADLINE is the defining fact of BLACKPINK’s recent history. Four years without a group release, while every member built a solo catalogue, is the kind of pause that ends most groups. It didn’t end this one.
Where the Group Actually Stands in 2026
Two things happened in quick succession, and together they answer the “are BLACKPINK still a group?” question fairly decisively:
- The Deadline World Tour ran from July 5, 2025 (Goyang Stadium, South Korea) to January 26, 2026 (Kai Tak Stadium, Hong Kong), through Barcelona, London, Paris, New York, Singapore, Jakarta, and Bangkok. Along the way they became the first K-pop girl group to headline a solo show at Wembley Stadium.
- DEADLINE, the third mini album, followed on February 27, 2026 — filmed and produced while the tour was running.
Touring stadiums globally and releasing an album inside the same twelve months is not the behaviour of a group winding down. It is, however, a very different operating model from their early years: fewer, larger, more spaced-out events rather than a conventional comeback cadence.
The 10th Anniversary Event — And Why It Was Contentious
Here’s what was actually announced, because the coverage moved fast.
On August 6, 2026, YG announced via Weverse a special meet-and-greet to mark the tenth anniversary, to be held on August 8 in Seoul. The format:
- 40 fans, selected by lottery
- Eligibility limited to those holding an active BLACKPINK Weverse Membership as of July 31, 2026
- Venue kept confidential, disclosed only to selected attendees
On August 7, YG confirmed that all four members would attend, stating that participation had been confirmed after checking with the members’ respective labels.
That confirmation mattered because it hadn’t been a given — earlier community reporting had suggested Lisa might not take part, and the phrasing about checking “with their labels” made the coordination problem explicit.
The criticism was about the format rather than the reunion. A tenth anniversary announced two days in advance, for 40 people, with an undisclosed location, struck a large share of BLINKs as thin for a decade milestone — particularly for international fans, for whom a two-day notice period in Seoul is not an event they could realistically attend regardless of the lottery.
YG separately released a BLACKPINK Heritage Collection with MU:DS, the National Museum of Korea’s merchandise brand — seven lifestyle products drawing on traditional Korean artefacts.
Where to Start If You’re New
- “DDU-DU DDU-DU” — the international breakthrough, and still the clearest statement of the group’s early identity
- “Lovesick Girls” — from THE ALBUM, and the best entry point for anyone who finds the harder singles unrepresentative
- “Shut Down” — the BORN PINK lead, built on a sampled classical hook
- DEADLINE — the current era, and the fastest way to hear where they are now
- A Deadline Tour live — stadium-scale production is a large part of what the group is at this point
FAQ
When did BLACKPINK debut? August 8, 2016, with the single album SQUARE ONE under YG Entertainment.
Are BLACKPINK still together? Yes. They completed a world tour that ran from July 2025 to January 2026 and released the mini album DEADLINE in February 2026, with all four members confirmed for the tenth anniversary event.
What is BLACKPINK’s fandom called? BLINK, a contraction of “black” and “pink.”
What was the 10th anniversary event? A meet-and-greet held August 8, 2026 in Seoul for 40 fans selected by lottery from Weverse Membership holders as of July 31, with the venue kept confidential. All four members attended.
Why were fans unhappy about it? Because of the scale and timing rather than the event itself — announced two days ahead, limited to 40 attendees, at an undisclosed Seoul venue, for a tenth-anniversary milestone.
How many albums do BLACKPINK have? Two full studio albums (THE ALBUM, 2020; BORN PINK, 2022) plus a run of single albums and EPs, most recently the DEADLINE mini album in February 2026.
Why do BLACKPINK release so rarely? YG has consistently favoured spaced-out, event-scale releases over frequent comebacks, and all four members now run substantial solo careers that have to be scheduled around. It’s the group’s longest-running fandom complaint.