K-pop idol groups NCT, BLACKPINK and Seventeen have officially become “million sellers” through their respective new albums.
South Korea’s Gaon Music Chart released the rankings for its monthly album chart for October showing the three groups selling one million copies each.
The chart showed NCT’s “Resonance Pt. 1” sold 1,193,394 copies in October followed by BLACKPINK’s “The Album” with 1,073,671 copies and Seventeen’s “Semicolon” with 1,061,887 copies. The album chart is based on album shipments minus returns.
NTC’s “Resonance Pt. 1”
“Resonance Pt. 1” was released on Oct. 12 featuring the 23 members of NCT including new members Shotaro and Sungchan. The album had 1.12 million in pre-orders and it debuted at No. 6 on Billboard 200. It also placed first on iTunes Top Albums chart in 35 countries.
The album’s main track is "Make A Wish (Birthday Song)," a hip-hop beat-based pop dance song featuring Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Lucas, Xiaojun, Jaemin and Shotaro. As of writing, the music video for the song has garnered 101.76 million views on YouTube since Oct. 12.
BLACKPINK’s “The Album”
“The Album” is BLACKPINK’s first ever studio album since their debut. With 1.07 million copies sold for “The Album,” BLACKPINK became the first K-pop girl group to achieve “million seller” status.
According to YG Entertainment, “The Album” topped the iTunes Top Albums chart in 57 countries and regions after it was released on Oct. 2 and made its debut at No. 2 on Billboard 200 and the UK”s Official Albums Chart.
The agency added that before BLACKPINK, no girl group had sold one million copies for an album and the highest sales volume achieved was 760,000 copies including records dating back to the 1990s.
YouTube previously told Manila Bulletin that the music video for “Lovesick Girls,” the main track of the album, garnered 61.4 million views in the first 24 hours upon release on Oct. 2 to become the sixth biggest 24-hour music video debut on YouTube of all time. The music video has 240 million views as of writing.
Seventeen’s “Semicolon”
By achieving 1,061,887 copies in sales for “Semicolon,” Seventeen have now officially achieved the status of “double million sellers.”
They became a “million seller” in June when their album “Heng-garae” sold 1.09 million copies in the first week of release. Gaon Music Chart’s album rankings for the first half of the year showed “Heng-garae” sold 1.2 million copies to place second behind BTS’ “Map of the Soul: 7,” which had 4.26 million copies in sales.
Before its release, “Semicolon” had garnered more than 1.1 million copies in pre-orders, according to Pledis Entertainment.
On the other hand, on Gaon’s Retail Album chart for October, “Semicolon” placed first with 921,158 copies sold followed by “Resonance Pt. 1” with 680,967 copies and “The Album” with 641,828.