Artists under HYBE Labels have been thriving in the United States, as confirmed by a recent midyear report
On July 18th (local time), US media Forbes reported on Luminate’s 2023 semi-annual report and highlighted “The 10 Bestselling CDs at 2023’s Midway Point” chart.
In particular, in the aforementioned chart of US sales, which was released by Luminate using data from Billboard, HYBE artists such as BTS members SUGA and Jimin, SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT), and ENHYPEN were listed.
At the same time, Forbes stated, “In an era dominated by digital streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, physical album purchases once seemed like they had lost their appeal. Interestingly, a resurgence in album sales is underway, and Kpop stars and bands are leading the charge.”
Meanwhile, in Luminate’s “10 Bestselling CDs at 2023’s Midway Point” chart, TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s mini-album “The Name Chapter: Temptation” took 1st place with 395,000 copies sold. SEVENTEEN’s mini-album “FML” sold 233,000 copies, placing fourth.
Following that, Suga’s solo album “D-DAY” sold 186,000 copies and landed in 5th place, whilst Jimin’s solo album “FACE” placed 7th with 168,000 copies. Finally, ENHYPEN’s “Dark Blood” recorded 127,000 copies, ranking ninth.
This achievement came amid the record-breaking export of Kpop albums (for the first half of the year). According to the Korea Customs Service on July 18th, Kpop album exports from January to June increased by 17% year-on-year, reaching 133 million USD.
US entertainment media, Variety, also mentioned these figures and emphasized that BTS’s SUGA and Jimin, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, and SEVENTEEN, among others, have made an “international impact”.
