Lisa’s SaWaDiKa music video is rapidly approaching 100 million views on YouTube.
The BLACKPINK star’s latest MV has been gaining views at an impressive pace, reaching the milestone in less than 48 hours of its release. As the numbers continued to climb, however, discussions emerged online questioning whether Lisa’s team had paid for advertising to make the MV appear more frequently to YouTube users.
Amid the speculation, the official @TeamYouTube account responded by explaining how the platform’s recommendation system works.
According to YouTube, a video appearing prominently on a user’s homepage or recommendation feed does not necessarily mean that it is being promoted through paid advertising. The platform’s recommendation system is personalized and takes numerous signals into account, including a user’s watch history, likes and dislikes, searches, and activity across YouTube and Google.
The explanation came after a now-deleted post on X claimed that YouTube was actively pushing SaWaDiKa to users through advertisements.
YouTube subsequently clarified that its recommendation system is designed to surface content that matches each individual user’s interests and viewing behavior. The platform also pointed users toward options such as “Not interested” and “Don’t recommend channel” for those who do not wish to see particular content or channels.
This also helps explain why SaWaDiKa may appear in front of people who do not follow Lisa or are not subscribed to her channel. For example, users who have previously searched for Lisa, watched BLACKPINK content, interacted with K-pop videos, or regularly listened to related artists and songs may be more likely to receive recommendations for her latest MV.
Therefore, the repeated appearance of a video on a user’s homepage or recommendation feed cannot, by itself, be considered evidence that an artist has paid YouTube to promote it.
The speculation surrounding promotion comes as SaWaDiKa continues to enjoy an exceptionally strong debut. The song was released on September 3 and quickly attracted a massive audience on YouTube.
Within its first 24 hours, the MV accumulated 70.8 million views, making it the biggest music video debut on YouTube in 2026 and the second-largest debut in history for a solo artist.
The current record still belongs to Lisa herself. Her 2021 solo debut LALISA recorded 73.6 million views during its first 24 hours.
With these two releases, Lisa now holds the top two spots for the biggest 24-hour YouTube MV debuts by a solo artist. SaWaDiKa has also made her the first female solo artist to have multiple music videos surpass 70 million views within a single 24-hour period.
The momentum behind SaWaDiKa continued beyond its opening day. The MV rapidly moved toward the 100-million mark, reaching approximately 95 million views at the time of reporting and putting Lisa within striking distance of another major milestone less than two days after the release.
The song has also made an impact on Spotify. SaWaDiKa debuted at No. 13 on Spotify’s Daily Global chart with 2.787 million streams. This was reportedly the biggest debut by a K-pop solo artist on the platform in 2026.
In the United States, the track generated approximately 466,000 streams and debuted at No. 53 on Spotify’s U.S. chart. These figures suggest that SaWaDiKa’s momentum is not solely coming from YouTube recommendations, as the song has also attracted significant listening activity across major music-streaming platforms.
As the MV continues breaking records and approaching new milestones, the debate over where its enormous view count comes from has naturally drawn attention from the K-pop community. However, based on YouTube’s explanation, SaWaDiKa appearing in numerous users’ recommendation feeds can be attributed to the platform’s personalized algorithm and should not automatically be interpreted as evidence of a paid campaign designed to inflate its views.
At its current pace, SaWaDiKa is expected to reach 100 million YouTube views soon, potentially adding another major achievement to Lisa’s growing list of records on the platform.
Sources: Saostar