Gaon Music Chart has issued the list of the top-selling songs and albums in Korea, and the most popular artists for the first half of 2021.
Album Chart
In the first half of 2021, the album sales of the top 400 totaled 26 million copies, an increase by 7.6 million compared to the same period last year and equivalent to 62 percent of the total sales in 2020.
In the album category, NCT Dream’s “Hot Sauce,” released in May, placed first followed by Seventeen’s “Your Choice,” EXO’s “Don’t Fight the Feeling,” EXO member Baekhyun’s “Bambi” and BTS’ “BE.”
The 20 top-selling albums in Korea for the first half of 2021 are:
1. NCT Dream - “Hot Sauce” - 2,049,042
2. Seventeen - “Your Choice” - 1,391,964
3. EXO - “Don’t Fight the Feeling” - 1,216,175
4. EXO’s Baekhyun - “Bambi” - 1,007,625
5. BTS - “BE” - 970,197
6. NCT Dream - “Hello Future” - 869,086
7. TXT - “The Chaos Chapter: Freeze” - 784,394
8. ENHYPEN - “Border: Carnival” - 636,222
9. TWICE - “Taste of Love” - 522,876
10. ATEEZ - “Zero: Fever, Pt. 2” - 502,150
11. BLACKPINK’s Rosé - “R” - 477,859
12. Super Junior - “The Renaissance” - 467,556
13. IU - “Lilac” - 382,008
14. NCT - “NCT Resonance Pt. 2” - 377,856
15. ASTRO - “All Yours” - 360,304
16. ITZY - “Guess Who” - 331,709
17. Kang Daniel - “Yellow” - 320,129
18. Monsta X - “One Of A Kind” - 305,808
19. Treasure - “The First Step: Treasure Effect” - 302,502
20. SHINee - “Don’t Call Me” - 301,348
Digital Chart
Gaon’s digital chart for the first half of the year is based on streaming, downloads and BGM sales. IU came first (and fourth) followed by Brave Girls, BTS and KyoungSeo.
The top 20 songs on Gaon’s digital chart for the first half of 2021 are:
1. IU - “Celebrity” - 612,091,106
2. Brave Girls - “Rollin'” - 531,891,270
3. BTS - “Dynamite” - 438,420,726
4. IU - “Lilac” - 407,573,975
5. KyoungSeo - “Shiny Star” - 401,355,030
6. Justin Bieber - “Peaches” feat. Daniel Caesar and Giveon - 337,607,147
7. Jang Beom-june - “Can’t Sleep” - 336,504,468
8. Mirani, Munchman, Khundi Panda & Mushvenom - “VVS” feat. JUSTHIS - 329,553,655
9. BLACKPINK - “Lovesick Girls” - 315,955,106
10. IU - “Hold My Hand” - 310,572,447
11. Sandeul - “Slightly Tipsy” - 309,989,785
12. Brave Girls - “We Ride” - 296,453,897
13. Song I Han - “I will be your shining star” - 282,946,261
14. IU - “eight” (Prod. & Feat. Suga of BTS - 278,507,280
15. IU - “Blueming” - 273,525,303
16. Jukjae - “Do you want to walk with me?” - 270,594,313
17. Yang Yoseob and Jung Eun-ji - “Love Day (2021)” - 259,156,949
18. 10cm - “Borrow your night” - 258,415,162
19. Akmu - “How can I love the heartbreak, you’re the one I love” - 253,785,622
20. BLACKPINK’s Rosé - “On The Ground” - 252,601,355
Social Chart
Gaon’s Social Chart is based on popularity on YouTube, TikTok, V LIVE, Mubeat and My Celebs. The top 10 most popular artists in the first half of 2021 are:
1. BTS
2. BLACKPINK
3. Lim Young-woong
4. IU
5. TWICE
6. Lee Chan-won
7. Young Tak
8. EXO
9. Block B
10. Stray Kids