Physical album sales by K-pop acts this year are expected to reach a record-high 80 million units.
K-pop data analysis company Circle Chart on Dec. 26 said the top K-pop 400 albums over this year’s first 50 weeks (ending on Dec. 10) saw physical album sales of 74,195,554, up 30% from last year’s 57,089,160. The yearly sales figure is forecast for around 80 million if copies sold during the remainder of the year are included.
BTS led all acts with six million albums sold, followed by Stray Kids in second and Seventeen third.
The girl group BLACKPINK sold 2.82 million physical albums to rank fifth and led all other female K-pop acts in sales. The runner-up was Ive and Red Velvet came in third.
Among cumulative album sales, male groups accounted for 66.2%, female ones 32.6% and other acts comprising both genders 1.2%. Album sales by male acts declined 17.3% from the same period last year, but that of female acts rose 16.5%.
Circle Chart senior researcher Kim Jin-woo said the growth of the global fandom of K-pop girl groups led the overall rise of this year’s physical album sales. The number of male acts selling more than a million copies this year dipped from 12 last year to 11 this year, but that of female acts skyrocketed from just one to 10 over the same period.
“As global fandom keeps growing, album sales are expected to steadily increase over the mid- to long term, with additional growth to be conspicuous on the girl group market,” Kim said.
Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism