2NE1 (2011 EP)

On April 18, 2011, 2NE1 announced they would postpone their Japanese debut due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and would resume Korean release plans, pushing the extended play's promotions forward, from April to July.[4]

Plans for the album's promotions were later released on YG Life's blog on April 27, 2011, where the group stated that they we will be releasing a new single every three weeks leading up to the album's release in July. The group stated that the reason behind this plan was because they were more than satisfied with the level of quality in the album's track list and intended to use them all as title tracks for its promotion.[5]

Bom and Dara at a signing event for the EP in 2011.

Bom's solo track "Don't Cry" was released as the first single on April 21. It was then followed by the group's single "Lonely" on May 11. Both songs topped the Gaon Digital Chart; in addition, "Lonely" became the first song to achieve a perfect all-kill by a K-pop girl group since the concept's inception in 2010. Neither were promoted extensively on music shows; but on May 29, the group made a surprise two-part performance with both songs on SBS's Inkigayo.[6] The surprise appearance was attributed to the popularity of the two songs and was done as a gift to their fans.[7]

On June 24, the third single "I Am The Best" was released at midnight, and subsequently topped all South Korean real-time charts, achieving another perfect all-kill. The song gained widespread international recognition and has been often referred to as one of the most iconic and influential songs in the K-pop industry.[8][9] It was performed for several weeks on the music programs Inkigayo, Show! Music Core and M Countdown. The plans for a mini album then stated another digital single would soon follow along with the release of the group's second mini album.

"Hate You", was initially intended for their second album To Anyone, but was later included into the mini-album's tracklist.[10] It was released one week prior to the mini album's release on July 21 and became a top-three hit. The next single "Ugly", became the EP's fourth number one single, and won three music program wins during the course of its run. It ended the album's promotions on SBS's Inkigayo on August 21.

Following their Korean promotions, the group announced the release of the album in Japan under the title Nolza. It was released on September 21 by YGEX, a newly created label by YG Entertainment Japan in association with Avex. They appeared on the Japanese music program Music Station to promote the EP, performing the lead single "I Am the Best".

2NE1 2nd Mini Album debuted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart in the chart issue dated July 24–30, 2011.[11] It was the top-selling album in the month of July with 54,900 copies being sold in just three days.[12] The singles off of 2NE1 showed to be some of the most popular songs in South Korea during 2011; "Lonely", "Don't Cry" and "I Am the Best" were ranked 4th, 5th and 7th on the year-end Gaon Digital Chart, respectively.[13] "Ugly" and "Hate You" additionally ranked within the top 50. In Japan, Nolza claimed the top spot on the weekly Japanese Oricon album chart, and became the second South Korean girl group album to do so in the chart's history.

In Taiwan, the mini-album debuted atop the G-Music J-pop/K-pop album chart in the issue dated August 26–September 1, 2011, making it the group's first number-one album in the country.[14] It additionally peaked at number 12 on the Combo album chart during the same week.[15] In the United States, the mini-album peaked at number 4 on the Billboard US World Albums chart and number 34 on the Top Heatseekers Album chart.[16]

The album ranked sixth on Spin magazine's list of "20 Best Pop Albums of 2011", placing ahead of Ellie Goulding, Coldplay and Rihanna. The publication said that "it might be the year’s most boldly thrilling recorded statement", featuring the collision of various genres, from electro-house, hip-hop, and pop-rock guitar.[17]

• 2NE1 official site