Gaon Music Chart has released the rankings for the best-selling artists in Korea in 2020 based on the total sales of physical albums.
Despite the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, physical album sales of Korean artists soared this year to 40.26 million copies as of the second week of December, a whopping increase of 63.7 percent or 15.66 million copies, compared to 2019’s 24.59 million copies.
In 2018, physical album sales in Korea totaled 22.81 million copies from 16.93 million in 2017, 10.8 million in 2016 and 8.38 million in 2015, according to Gaon Music Chart.
In 2020, BTS dominated the physical album sales in the male category while BLACKPINK grabbed first place among female artists.
Overall, BTS bagged first place, selling 9.16 million copies through various albums including “Map of the Soul: 7” and “BE.” This is an increase of 3.14 million copies, or growth of 52 percent, from their 2019 total album sales of 6.02 million copies.
K-pop idol group Seventeen placed second with 2.71 million copies of albums sold in 2020, an increase of 1.24 million copies sold compared to their second-place finish of 1.46 million copies in 2019.
NCT grabbed third place with 2.18 million copies sold this year followed by BLACKPINK with 1.7 million copies and NCT 127 with 1.55 million copies. EXO’s Baekhyun is the only solo artist in the top 10.
Here are the overall top 10 best-selling artists in Korea in 2020:
1. BTS - 9,167,879 copies sold
2. Seventeen - 2,712,620
3. NCT - 2,186,710
4. BLACKPINK - 1,706,814
5. NCT 127 - 1,559,227
6. IZ*ONE - 1,486,603
7. TWICE - 1,292,720
8. EXO’s Baekhyun - 1,043,099
9. Stray Kids - 967,670
10. TXT - 930,658
The top 10 best-selling male artists in Korea based on physical album sales in 2020 are:
1. BTS - 9,167,879 copies sold
2. SEVENTEEN - 2,712,620
3. NCT - 2,186,710
4. NCT 127 - 1,559,227
5. EXO’s Baekhyun - 1,043,099
6. Stray Kids - 967,670
7. TXT - 930,658
8. GOT7 - 814,484
9. Treasure - 713,461
10. ATEEZ - 696,005
The top 10 best-selling female artists in Korea based on physical album sales in 2020 are:
1. BLACKPINK - 1,706,814 copies sold
2. IZ*ONE - 1,486,603
3. TWICE - 1,292,720
4. ITZY - 401,085
5. (G)I-DLE - 299,159
6. Mamamoo - 245,438
7. GFriend - 237,622
8. Red Velvet’s Irene and Seulgi - 232,674
9. Loona - 200,088
10. Dreamcatcher - 165,125