K-pop album sales surge despite Covid-19

There is just no stopping the K-pop express.

A record 18 million K-pop albums were sold in the first half of the year, despite the cancellation of tours and stage performances as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Korea Music Content Association's Gaon Music Chart, which tabulates the weekly popularity of songs or albums in South Korea, reported that the country's top 400 albums sold 18.08 million copies in the first half of the year, up more than 40 per cent from last year's 12.33 million.

This is also the highest figure since the chart started tallying album sales in 2010.

The top 10 albums - by popular groups and solo acts like BTS, Seventeen and Twice - exceeded a combined 10 million copies sold.

BTS' Map Of The Soul: 7 was tops, with more than 4.2 million copies sold. A best-selling album in the United States, it also topped Britain's Official Charts and Japan's Oricon chart.

Seventeen's seventh mini album, Heng:garae, came in second at over 1.2 million copies, driven by growth in Japan.

Japan remains one of the major markets for K-pop, accounting for about 60 per cent of its exports.

In a list dominated by groups, solo act EXO vocalist Baekhyun stood out with his release Delight, which was just shy of a million, with more than 970,000 copies sold.

Gaon chief researcher Kim Jin-woo said that "album sales have been driven heavily by K-pop acts with a strong overseas presence and big international fandoms, as the domestic market has reached near saturation".

1. BTS - Map Of The Soul: 7 (4.27 million copies)

2. Seventeen - Heng:garae (1.21 million copies)

3. Baekhyun - Delight (971,876 copies)

4. NCT 127 - Neo Zone (784,260 copies)

5. NCT Dream - Reload (604,480 copies)

He added: "Ironically, the cancellation of concerts and fan meet-ups due to the pandemic seems to have aided K-pop album sales because the fans didn't have any other choice... buying albums was the only way to show support for a while."

THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK