(KBS)

"Happy Together," KBS 2TV's weekday variety talk show, rose to the top of a TV popularity index, as the show featured F.T. Island's Choi Jong-hoon and delved into his relationship with his star athlete girlfriend, data showed Tuesday.

Hosted by comedians Yoo Jae-suk and Park Myung-soo, "Happy Together" scored 245.1 points on the Content Power Index, becoming the most popular TV program from July 24-30.

CPI, developed by entertainment company CJ E&M and Nielsen Korea, measures the popularity of TV shows based on the number of views of related news stories, online search tallies and buzz on social media.

On the episode aired on July 27, Choi, leader of idol band F.T. Island, shared tidbits of his romantic relationship with retired gymnast Son Yeon-jae, who won the individual all-around bronze at the Guangzhou Asian Games in 2010 and gold at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

As of the recording of the show, the relationship was about five months in, Choi said. However, news broke a few days after the broadcast that the couple had parted ways.

tvN's weekend legal thriller "Stranger" climbed six notches to second place, with 243.2 points, with SBS TV's new crime conspiracy show "Distorted" debuting on the chart at third place, with 241.2 points.

"Radio Star," MBC TV's weekday late night talk show, came in fourth, scoring 222.6 points, followed by tvN's "Criminal Minds,"
an adaptation of the U.S. crime procedural series, jumping on the chart for the first time at fifth, with 221.7 points.

SBS TV's "Same Bed, Different Dreams 2" clocked in sixth, climbing eight steps from the previous week, and MBC TV's weekend variety show "Infinite Challenge" came in seventh, down four notches. "Mom's Diary -- My Ugly Duckling," a reality TV show starring single middle-aged celebrities and their mothers, soared 14 spots, coming in at eighth. (Yonhap)