Statistics show that K-pop album sales in the first half of this year recorded the best performance.
According to Circle Chart (formerly Gaon Chart) on July 18th, actual album sales in the first half of this year were 34,947,247 copies based on the top 400 (No.1~400), recording nearly 35 million copies. This is an increase of 34.6% compared to the same period last year.
The album sales in the first half of recent years were 10.48 million copies in 2018, 12.93 million copies in 2019, 18.36 million copies in 2020 and 25.96 million copies last year, which nearly doubled before and after the spread of COVID-19. The industry initially analyzed that the demand for music albums increased due to the effect of retaliatory consumption as the concert market stagnated after the pandemic, but if you look at this year’s trend, the demand for K-pop albums seems to be booming even after the endemic.
Looking at the album sales by singer in the first half of this year, BTS topped the list with 4,523,749 copies. It was followed by NCT DREAM (3,982,696 copies), SEVENTEEN (2,720,858 copies), TXT (2,104,740 copies), Stray Kids (2,072,689 copies) and Lim Young-woong (1,142,727 copies).
In the single album sales category, BTS’ anthology album “Proof” sold 2,957,410 copies, nearly 3 million copies. Aside from this new album, BTS has steadily sold 17 other albums, including “BE” and “Butter”.
The second best-selling album was SEVENTEEN’s 4th full album “Face the Sun” with 2,373,052 copies.
Circle Chart’s chief researcher Kim Jin-woo analyzed, “A total of 8 singers selling more than 1 million copies ranked in the top 400 of the album chart in the first half of the year. There are 3 more teams compared to 5 (NCT DREAM, BTS, SEVENTEEN, EXO, Baekhyun) of last year.”
Circle Chart has established a “Retail Album Chart” that announces domestic and overseas sales volume separately starting this month. If you look at this chart, the impact of overseas K-pop fandoms is noticeable. For example, it was counted that 740,522 copies, or 95.4%, of NCT DREAM’s second full album “Glitch Mode” were sold overseas on March 28th, the first day of release.
The firm purchase of K-pop albums by overseas fans is also reflected in recent Billboard results. BTS and Stray Kids topped the main album chart “Billboard 200”, which greatly reflects public indicators such as social fandom and the proportion of online and offline album sales. aespa (No.3), TXT (No.4) and TWICE Nayeon (No.7) also achieved good results.
Some worry that the K-pop industry will fall into chaos due to BTS’ individual activities. However, Circle Chart analyzed, “The current K-pop market is judged to be more of a pyramid shape than a circular structure in which a specific group of singers form the center point.” In the case of a circular structure, losing the center point could affect the entire market ecosystem, but in the pyramid structure, it is unlikely that the entire market will collapse suddenly even if some gaps occur in the upper layer.
Circle Chart’s chief researcher Kim Jin-woo said, “The reason BTS’ share in the album market has decreased is because the sales of physical albums in the entire K-pop market have increased significantly. The fact that there are 12 million sellers aside from BTS means that the current lineup of K-pop singers is very solid. As of 2022, the K-pop market is not greatly affected by the halo of the leading group, and each team is developing based on independent competitiveness.”
He also predicted, “With BLACKPINK‘s global success, a large number of girl groups targeting the global market have recently continued their comeback and debut to expand their overseas activities, which will also serve as another growth engine for the K-pop industry.“
Source: newstomato
