BINI makes first magazine cover

It’s about blooming time: BINI finally takes center-stage in print as the new cover girls for Billboard Philippines’ 2024 Anniversary issue.

Billboard Ph announced on 1 October that they are setting the platform for the octet as the featured artist in their special edition issue, a 100-page spread in celebration of the publication’s first anniversary and BINI’s whirlwind success in the new wave of OPM.

The magazine features new additions, the On Record and Uncovered sections, where readers can find select, promising local acts and the accomplishments of the music and entertainment industry in the previous year accompanied by a massive gallery of never-before-seen snaps of activities rolled out by Billboard Ph.

Copies are exclusively available at the outfit’s one-year anniversary celebration concert, Billboard Philippines: Mainstage, on 15 October 2024 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

The bubblegum pop sensation, along with SB19, Alamat, and G22, Sarah Geronimo, Gary Valenciano, Regine Velasquez-Alcasid, Sandwich, and other stellar homegrown talents, are slated to perform at the show to pay homage to OPM throughout the years.

The show isn’t all that Billboard has to offer for this monumental tribute of the year — Blooms are in for a treat to expand their own BINIverse of memorabilia as Anniversary Magazine packages are out now and up for pre-order until 10 October.

Aside from the 100-page anniversary issue, fans get complementary tickets to the show and the cherry on top: eight exclusive photo prints of BINI, that will surely have them feelin’ extra good.

On 23 April, BINI achieved its first feat as the first group act to peak Billboard’s Top Philippine Songs Chart with its viral tracks “Salamin, Salamin”, summer banger “Pantropiko,” “Karera,” “Lagi” and “Huwag Muna Tayong Umuwi.”

Including songs “Na Na Na” and “I Feel Good,” they also headlined that same month Billboard’s Hot 100, a weekly ranking of the country’s most popular titles.

Already on its 186th day, the group stands strong as the top female OPM artist and group OPM act on Spotify Philippines, overtaking OST darlings KZ Tandingan and Janine Teñoso and indie hotshots Ben&Ben and Cup of Joe among others.

BINI is an eight-piece girl group comprising Aiah Arceta, Colet Vergara, Maloi Ricalde, Gwen Apuli, Stacey Sevilleja, Mikha Lim, Jhoanna Robles and Sheena Catacutan, formed in 2018 under ABS-CBN’s Star Hunt Academy.

They debuted in 2021 with the single “Born to Win” in a music-meets-fashion runway launch, where they modeled bespoke pieces designed by world-renowned couturier Francis Libiran.

In September of the same year, the song was selected as the official title for the preliminary swimsuit and evening gown competition at the Miss Universe Philippines pageant, following the drop of their third single “Kapit Lang.”

Despite the three-year long wait before their rise to national stardom, BINI instantly took the Philippine music scene by storm in 2023 upon the release of their debut extended play (EP) album Talaarawan, featuring the singles “Karera” and “Pantropiko” as promotional tracks.