Top 10 artists with the strongest annual album sales in Gaon in the period 2010 – 2020: The reason why SNSD and TWICE deserve to be ranked as legends

Meanwhile, BTS’s figure of more than 9 million copies sold in just 1 year has so far surprised Korean netizens.

Korean netizens recently spread a ranking that summarizes the list of artists with the strongest annual album sales for the period from 2010 to 2020. Let’s review the Top 10 through each year with actual album sales. their economy according to data from the Gaon chart!

2010

1. SNSD – 628,707 copies
2. Super Junior – 319,686 copies (including Super Junior-M sales)
3. JYJ – 290,863 copies
4. SHINee – 208,806 copies
5. BEAST – 195,149 copies
6. Big Bang – 193,423 copies (including Taeyang’s solo sales + GD&TOP unit)
7. KARA – 172,177 copies
8. TVXQ – 171,614 copies
9. 2NE1 – 163,794 copies
10. 2PM – 130,839 copies

2011

1. SNSD – 600,042 copies
2. Super Junior – 591,329 copies (including Super Junior-M sales)
3. TVXQ – 377,402 copies
4. Big Bang – 345,892 copies (including G-Dragon’s solo sales + Seungri’s solo sales + GD&TOP unit)
5. JYJ – 308,945 pieces
6. BEAST – 230,279 copies
7. Kim Hyun Joong – 216,347 copies
8. CNBlue – 201,468 copies
9. INFINITE – 188,647 copies
10. IU – 160,324 copies

2012

1. Big Bang – 658,295 copies (including G-Dragon’s solo sales + GD&TOP unit)
2. Super Junior – 587,885 copies (including sales of Super Junior-M, Super Junior-H)
3. TVXQ – 353,227 copies
4. INFINITE – 308,051 copies (including Sunggyu’s solo sales)
5. SNSD – 292,440 copies (including TTS sales)
6. SHINee – 242,073 copies
7. EXO – 233,478 copies
8. BEAST – 215,841 copies (including Yang Yoseob’s solo sales)
9. B1A4 – 199,469 copies
10. Kim Junsu – 189,620 copies

2013

1. EXO – 1,565,668 copies
2. SHINee – 510,986 copies
3. INFINITE – 470,939 votes (including INFINITE H unit sales and Sunggyu’s solo sales)
4. Big Bang – 388,637 copies (including G-Dragon’s solo sales + Seungri’s solo sales + TOP’s solo sales)
5. Kim Jae Joong – 343,014 copies
6. SNSD – 336,841 (including TTS sales)
7. VIXX – 285,489 copies
8. Cho Yong Pil – 250,046 copies
9. B.A.P – 200,097 copies
10. CNBlue – 163,683 copies

2014

1. EXO – 1,108,991 copies
2. Super Junior – 538,358 tickets (including Kyuhyun’s solo sales and Super Junior-M unit)
3. TVXQ – 335,643 copies
4. INFINITE – 324,891 copies (including INFINITE H unit sales)
5. SNSD – 246,113 copies (including TTS sales)
6. BTS – 231,214 copies
7. VIXX – 205,044 copies
8. JYJ – 204,804 copies (including Kim Jae Joong’s solo sales)
9. BEAST – 203,453 copies
10. GOT7 – 182,342 copies

2015

1. EXO – 1,759,914 copies
2. BTS – 563,002 copies
3. Big Bang – 425,104 copies
4. SNSD – 401,461 copies (including Taeyeon‘s solo sales and TTS unit)
5. Super Junior – 378,988 copies (including Kyuhyun’s solo sales and Super Junior-D&E unit)
6. SHINee – 364,662 copies (including Jonghyun’s solo sales and Taemin’s solo sales)
7. VIXX – 280,412 pages (including LR unit sales)
8. INFINITE – 265,701 copies (including INFINITE H unit sales and Sunggyu’s solo sales)
9. GOT7 – 220,183 copies
10. CNBlue – 197,951 copies (including Jung Yong Hwa’s solo sales)

2016

1. EXO – 2,159,309 copies (including Lay‘s solo sales and EXO-CBX unit)
2. BTS – 1,458,644 copies
3. TWICE – 580,879 copies
4. SEVENTEEN – 542,871 copies
5. SHINee – 412,521 votes (including Jonghyun‘s solo sales and Taemin’s solo sales)
6. GOT7 – 392,762 copies
7. VIXX – 305,600 copies
8. I.O.I – 237,223 copies
9. INFINITE – 213,483 copies (including Nam Woo Hyun’s solo sales)
10. UP10TION – 204,174 copies

2017

1. BTS – 2,723,123 copies
2. EXO – 2,113,021 copies
3. Wanna One – 1,355,618 copies
4. TWICE – 1,141,126 copies
5. GOT7 – 819,179 copies (including unit sales of JJ Project)
6. SEVENTEEN – 735,077 copies
7. SNSD – 455,125 copies (including Taeyeon’s solo sales)
8. NCT – 412,310 copies (including sales of unit NCT 127 and NC Dream)
9. MONSTA X – 353,431 copies
10. NU’EST W – 308,108 copies

2018

1. BTS – 5,150,041 copies
2. EXO – 2,315,446 copies (including sales of unit EXO-CBX)
3. Wanna One – 2,148,730 copies
4. TWICE – 1,241,347 copies
5. NCT – 983,111 copies (including sales of units NCT 127 and NC Dream)
6. SHINee – 849,149 copies (including Jonghyun, Taemin, Onew, and Key’s solo sales)
7. GOT7 – 844,975 copies
8. SEVENTEEN – 578,848 copies
9. NU’EST W – 442,271 copies
10. MONSTA X – 414,267 copies

2019

1. BTS – 6,218,254 copies
2. EXO – 1,683,350 photos (including sales of EXO-CBX and EXO-SC units)
3. SEVENTEEN – 1,334,870 copies
4. TWICE – 858,741 copies
5. GOT7 – 698,770 copies (including unit sales of JUS2)
6. NCT – 646,548 copies (including sales of unit NCT 127 and NC Dream)
7. X1 – 642,583 copies
8. Super Junior – 627,663 copies (including Kyuhyun’s solo sales, Yesung’s solo sales and Super Junior-D&E unit)
9. Kang Daniel – 500,134 copies
10. MONSTA X – 479,813 copies

2020

1. BTS – 9,332,212 copies
2. NCT – 4,396,673 copies (including sales of units NCT 127 and NC Dream)
3. SEVENTEEN – 2,589,923 copies
4. BLACKPINK – 1,645,214 copies
5. IZ*ONE – 1,412,298 copies
6. TWICE – 1,053,316 copies
7. Kim Ho Jung – 1,036,296 copies
8. Baekhyun – 1,020,643 copies
9. TXT – 835,110 copies
10. GOT7 – 795,112 copies

When it comes to physical sales, it can be seen that male artists have dominated over the past 11 years, and female artists make up only a small portion of the rankings. This is also the reason why girl groups like SNSD and TWICE are dubbed “legends” by Korean netizens because they are the rare female artists who have remained stable in the album sales rankings for many years, even holding high positions.

https://youtu.be/kda_53A0ZpI

Although it was not until 2017 that they rose to the top among Kpop artists, BTS’s achievements since then have always been admirable to netizens. In particular, in 2020 alone, the number of albums sold by the Big Hit’s boy group has exceeded more than 9 million copies without accumulating any unit or solo releases.

• “BTS members have not gone solo yet, nor has any sub unit made a debut, but from 2017 until now, the 1st place always belongs to them”
• “TWICE is also amazing, from 2016 to now, they have continuously ranked in the top even though they’re a female group”
• “Over 9 million copies.. Is this a really possible number..? As expected ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
• “Over 9 million copies? It’s crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
• “BTS really is a wall ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Since they sold more than 5 million copies, it’s game over for the rest”
• “BTS is insane… Without solo or subunit but their album sales are steadily increasing year by year”
• “Wow.. SNSD’s fandom used to be bigger than male idols’ back in the day ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
• “Since BTS sold 5 million copies, I can’t believe my eyes”
• “BTS is obviously amazing, but TWICE and SNSD are also good. They’re female idols, but their album selling power can compare with male idols of the same generation, they’re truly legendary”
• “Wow, the only female idol group that once topped the annual album chart was SNSD..”