Girl groups are gaining prominence in the K-pop scene with consecutive record-breaking million sellers
K-pop is witnessing a dynamic shift now that girl groups are boasting strong appeal, evident through million-selling albums.
aespa was the first girl group to sell over 1 million album copies in the first-week sales in K-pop. With their second mini-album “Girls” last year, the SM girl group surpassed 1.12 million copies (based on the Hanteo Chart), making them the first first-week million seller among girl groups.
After the birth of the first-week million seller record set by aespa, the K-pop girl group market began to grow rapidly. BLACKPINK’s second full-length album “BORN PINK”, which was released in the same year, easily entered the list of million-selling girl groups with 1.54 million sold copies. Afterwards, IVE’s “I’VE IVE” and LE SSERAFIM’s “UNFORGIVEN” racked up 1.1 million and 1.25 million sold copies in first-week sales, respectively. Meanwhile, aespa recorded a “double million seller” with their album “My World”.
More notably, K-pop girl groups are achieving one-million sellers on their first-day sales. Last year, BLACKPINK’s “BORN PINK” was the first Korean girl group to record a million-seller on the day of its release. On May 2nd, LE SSERAFIM’s “UNFORGIVEN” and aespa’s “My World” also became million sellers on their first-day sales. The continuous record-breaking is an undeniable proof of girl groups’ elevated status in K-pop.
Before, only boy groups were able to record million-seller achievements. However, it’s becoming more obvious that girl groups are recording million sellers on their own. Several drives contribute to this shift. Globalization is a major driving force, as it expands the scope of a fandom, which entails growing purchase power. Gender ratio also plays into the equation. In the past, idol groups mostly appealed to the opposite sex, i.e. boy groups have a higher female proportion than male fans and vice versa for girl groups. Comparisons between male and female fans show that the latter group shows more investment in album purchases. However, recently, girl groups are diversifying their concepts and accommodating both male and female fans. The growing number of female fans usually entails a higher purchase power for a girl group.
K-pop is witnessing a dynamic shift now that K-pop girl groups are breaking records with million sellers on their first-day and first-week sales. The K-pop community is paying more attention to how girl groups will perform in the future now that more prominent groups are gearing up for their comebacks.
Source: hankookilbo
