On January 31, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism released the results of the investigation of Nilo and Shaun’s digital chart manipulation controversy.

A source from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism said, “We made a request to an enterprise that specializes in data analysis to investigate the issue. They analyzed the data from the controversial tracks, as well as that from three other tracks that were sent as comparison.”

The source continued, “The main subject of the investigation was [to see] if there are differences in demand for the controversial tracks and demand for other tracks. The controversial tracks did not have much difference in demand compared to the other three tracks.”

They concluded, “After comparing the tracks, including [user’s] unusual behaviors such as listening to the same track on repeat for a long time or listening to the track during early morning times rather than night times, we concluded that the controversial tracks formed similar graphs to tracks that they were compared to.”

In the end, the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism stated that they will be transferring the analyzed data over to an investigative agency to further continue the investigation. In response, a representative from Limez Entertainment stated, “We will be releasing an official statement soon.”

Suspicions of chart manipulation on Korean streaming sites arose following Nilo’s speedy rise to No. 1 during the early morning times in April. In July, Shaun also received similar accusations after his track “Way Back Home” rose to the top of music charts during similar time frames. At the time, both of the artists’ agencies firmly denied, “It’s definitely not manipulation.”

Source (1) (2)