Despite the Korean public’s skepticism about the SM boy group, the group has experienced a remarkable rise in popularity.
In the past 1 year, NCT has brought about impressive success with many outstanding activities of all subgroups. NCT members are also gradually becoming more familiar with the Kpop fan community as well as the Korean public. They’ve also created a solid fan base that is ready to back them up in any endeavors they undertake.
According to the results of album sales of 4 major companies in the first half of 2021, NCT is not only SM’s key group but also surpasses a series of other boy groups such as BTS, EXO, or SEVENTEEN. They became the idol group with the highest total sales in the period from January to June this year. Based on the data published by Gaon, NCT has sold 5,025,765 album copies in the first 6 months of 2021, of which NCT DREAM alone has sold 3,390,828 copies. EXO’s results were 2,443,351 copies, BTS’s 2,403,862 copies, and SEVENTEEN’s 1,537,549 copies during the same period.
Witnessing NCT’s success today, few people remember that they were once considered “SM’s biggest failure” in the early days of their debut. Debut with a completely different concept and system from the rest of Kpop, the number of members changes continuously over time, NCT in general and their subgroups, in particular, have faced a lot of difficulties in reaching the Korean audience.
To this day, although there are still many controversies about whether NCT can be considered a successful group or not. Many netizens think that compared to what SM has invested in them, they still have an unimpressive recognition in Korea. However, it is clear that the SM boygroup has had an impressive development journey compared to its debut date, which is specifically shown through album sales. Let’s take a look at NCT’s album sales statistics from 2016 to the first half of 2021 (based on Gaon’s data)!
1. 2016
- NCT 127 – “NCT #127”: 83,272 copies
Total sales for 2016: 83,272 copies
2. 2017
- NCT 127 – “Limitless”: 121,109 copies
- NCT 127 – “Cherry Bomb”: 127,642 copies
- NCT DREAM – “The First”: 82,654 copies
- NCT DREAM – “We Young”: 80,905 copies
Total sales for 2017: 412,310 copies
Total sales since 2016: 509,130 copies
3. 2018
- NCT 2018 – “EMPATHY”: 330,335 copies
- NCT DREAM – “We Go Up”: 202,626 copies
- NCT 127 – “Regular-Irregular”: 292,341 copies
- NCT 127 – “Regulate”: 157,809 copies
- Total sales for 2018: 983,111 copies
Total sales since 2016: 1,576,481 copies
4. 2019
- NCT 127 – “We Are Superhuman”: 265,762 copies
- NCT DREAM – “We Boom”: 327,805 copies
- WayV – “Take Over The Moon”: 49,227 copies
Total sales for 2019: 642,794 copies
Total sales since 2016: 2,377,119 copies
5. 2020
- WayV – “Take Over The Moon – Sequel”: 29,325 copies
- NCT 127 – “Neo Zone”: 836,779 copies
- NCT 127 – “Neo Zone: The Final Round”: 524,224 copies
- WayV – “Awaken the World”: 107,773 copies
- NCT DREAM – “Reload”: 633.59 copies
- NCT 2020 – “NCT RESONANCE Pt. 1”: 1,289,594 copies + 175,747 copies (kit)
- NCT 2020 – “NCT RESONANCE Pt. 2”: 791,590 copies + 145,146 copies (kit)
Total sales for 2020: 4,533,771 copies
Total sales since 2016: 7,101,197 copies
6. First half of 2021
- WayV – “Kick Back”: 275,582 copies
- NCT DREAM – “Hot Sauce”: 2,04,042 copies
- NCT DREAM – “Hello Future”: 869,086 copies
Total sales for 2021: 3,193,710 copies
Total sales since 2016: 11,971,621 copies
The year 2021 is only halfway through, and NCT is set to smash more Kpop and personal milestones in the months ahead. NCT 127 has confirmed that they will release a full album in September of this year, so anything is possible. Besides, at the online event “SM Congress 2021” led by SM founder Lee Soo Man, the members also revealed the possibility of launching the NCT 2021 project this winter, following NCT 2020’s activities, which received a lot of positive feedback from fans last year.
Source: tinnhac
