"Tonight" (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 투나잇; RR: ''Toonait'') is a song by

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n boy group

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

released on February 24, 2011, through

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production compa ...

as the only single from the quintet's fourth

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

of the same name after a two-year hiatus. Written by members

G-Dragon Kwon Ji-yong (; born August 18, 1988), also known by his stage name G-Dragon (지드래곤), is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer, known as the " King of K-pop". G-Dragon is the recipi ...

and

T.O.P Choi Seung-hyun (; born November 4, 1987), better known by his stage name T.O.P, is a South Korean rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He performed as an underground rapper before joining the record label YG Entertainment and ...

, the song peaked at number one on the

Gaon Music Chart The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. It is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's ...

, and become one of the best-performing singles of 2011 in their home country.

Background and composition

Following a two-year hiatus where members explored and experimented with different sounds, BigBang returned to South Korea with their 2011 Big Show concert, showcasing songs from the then-unreleased EP. Though the group's previous extended plays contained songs that were heavily influenced by

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

, they opted to concentrate more on "warm rock music" for new materials. Released as the lead single, "Tonight" contained a "sophisticated electronic sound" paired with acoustic guitar. The song is "clearly grounded in

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

" a genre the quintet is known for. The track is built over "fist-pumping beats and applause", features "heavily autotuned vocals" and concludes "with sudden silence and then picking up again as if returning for an encore."

Reception

''Billboard'' noted how "Tonight" was "more nuanced and sophisticated than many of ig Bang'sprevious club anthems," and hailed it "four-minute sonic journey" to one of the group's concerts. The magazine ranked it number ten on their list of BigBang's must-listen songs. ''KpopStarz'' choose it as one of BigBang's definite songs, while ''

Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' named it one of the group's ten best songs, calling the single a "slick party anthem". "Tonight" debuted at number two on South Korea's

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based o ...

, at number one on the Download Chart and five on the Streaming Chart. On its second week, the single rose to a peak position atop the Digital and the Streaming charts, while remaining at number one on the Download Chart. Additionally, the single topped the Gaon BGM Chart upon release. By the end of 2011, "Tonight" was the eighth best-performing single of the year in South Korea, with over 2.3 million downloads sold. With over 23 million streams, the song was the tenth most streamed of 2011.

Accolades

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

References

External links

* {{Big Bang singles BigBang (South Korean band) songs YG Entertainment singles Korean-language songs Songs written by G-Dragon Songs written by T.O.P Gaon Digital Chart number-one singles 2011 singles 2011 songs