charts discussion South Korea album market bigger than US?

[MardinBeksloy]

With the significant decrease of number of physical album sale in the US, has South Korea album market outlasted the US?

 

Album with 1M pure in US for 2020: folklore 

Album with 1M pure sold in SK for October alone: NCT, BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN  (seven 1M seller total)

http://gaonchart.co.kr

 

South Korea is heavily stream reliant as well so why their album sales still persist? 

[Cryptique]

In PHYSICAL SALES for BIG ARTISTS??

 

Yup i think so.. However, in Digital Downloads and Physical Sales, i think US is still BIGGER cause there's a far wide list of Albums & Artists

[J Legend X]

Blackpink is the revolution.

[Rev8]

Maybe in pure

but still, US having only 1 album doing that pure, doesn't mean that it has a lower power there..just that not many artists are huge with that type of sale.

[Swirl900]

No because for physicals, Gaon tallies shipments (not sales) worldwide, and not just in South Korea. Most kpop albums will come with a little stickers saying they count towards gaon and hanteo. So if you walk into a target into the US, all the kpop albums there were already counted with Gaon. And if someone buys it, it will also count towards Hanteo (which is the chart that tracks physical sales).

 

Billboard on the other hand, only tracks sales and only in the US.

[gozahu]

Yes, I think nowadays SK has taken the lead in terms of physical sales, mostly because they have applied new techniques  of how to sell a CD.

I see the US applying this type of "resources" in the near future. 

[Zaram]

8 minutes ago, Swirl900 said:

No because for physicals, Gaon tallies shipments (not sales) worldwide, and not just in South Korea. Most kpop albums will come with a little stickers saying they count towards gaon and hanteo. So if you walk into a target into the US, all the kpop albums there were already counted with Gaon. And if someone buys it, it will also count towards Hanteo (which is the chart that tracks physical sales).

 

Billboard on the other hand, only tracks sales and only in the US.

/End thread 

[TrieLz]

Because Kpop Idol have a photobook/photocard/postcard/posters/sticker ect include on the album of course the physical album numbers will be huge.

 

Most of American artist didn’t have a massive fanbase, they didn’t sell photobook photocard ect on the album, so the GP or casual fans choose to stream the album or buy it on iTunes (digital)

 

unless the artist have a huge fanbase like Taylor  

[fais_2311]

Kpop albums are way more attractive than Western album. The packaging (jewel case is so yesterday), the photobook and the random inclusions thing like selfie photocard. I still don’t understand why US don’t copy this strategy yet. 

[Nando_05]

And BTS is yet to release 

[Saintlor]

Why are none of the best selling SK albums solo artists?

 

It's interesting how it's the opposite of western countries how solo stars are bigger

[KillingYourCareer]

16 minutes ago, Swirl900 said:

No because for physicals, Gaon tallies shipments (not sales) worldwide, and not just in South Korea. Most kpop albums will come with a little stickers saying they count towards gaon and hanteo. So if you walk into a target into the US, all the kpop albums there were already counted with Gaon. And if someone buys it, it will also count towards Hanteo (which is the chart that tracks physical sales).

 

Billboard on the other hand, only tracks sales and only in the US.

I'll never understand why they do this

[KillingYourCareer]

5 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Why are none of the best selling SK albums solo artists?

 

It's interesting how it's the opposite of western countries how solo stars are bigger

Their industry reminds ME! of the pop industry in the late 90s here, with boy bands and girl groups targeted at teens and preteens dominating the scene. They're either in that phase rn, or just really into that stuff that the west has gotten tired of quickly

[yamiyuuuu]

3 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Why are none of the best selling SK albums solo artists?

 

It's interesting how it's the opposite of western countries how solo stars are bigger

Only boybands and girlbands and their members (idols) sell well in Korea. There are exceptions like IU, but her numbers pale in comparison. There are a lot of popular artists in Korea that have huge success singles-wise but they barely sell albums, so the physical albums are not really a reflection of their popularity but the size of the fanbase.

 

So no, the Korean music market is not bigger than the American one, just a bunch of big acts are selling a ton of albums.

[TheArgonaut]

1 hour ago, Swirl900 said:

No because for physicals, Gaon tallies shipments (not sales) worldwide, and not just in South Korea. Most kpop albums will come with a little stickers saying they count towards gaon and hanteo. So if you walk into a target into the US, all the kpop albums there were already counted with Gaon. And if someone buys it, it will also count towards Hanteo (which is the chart that tracks physical sales).

 

Billboard on the other hand, only tracks sales and only in the US.

Wait, so Gaon is not only Korea Sales? 

[Swirl900]

4 minutes ago, TheArgonaut said:

Wait, so Gaon is not only Korea Sales? 

Nope not at all. In fact for most famous groups korean sales are probably a minority.

52 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Why are none of the best selling SK albums solo artists?

 

It's interesting how it's the opposite of western countries how solo stars are bigger

As the other user said physical sales are a purely fanbase driven thing in Korea. The digital charts are a much better reflection of who is actually popular within the country. And a majority of the people who dominate there these days are soloists. In fact there are many artists who move many physical units and the Korean public have little idea who they are, as they can't land in the top 40 songs on gaon but move monster album sales thanks to the fanbase.

[Saintlor]

13 minutes ago, Swirl900 said:

Nope not at all. In fact for most famous groups korean sales are probably a minority.

As the other user said physical sales are a purely fanbase driven thing in Korea. The digital charts are a much better reflection of who is actually popular within the country. And a majority of the people who dominate there these days are soloists. In fact there are many artists who move many physical units and the Korean public have little idea who they are, as they can't land in the top 40 songs on gaon but move monster album sales thanks to the fanbase.

Are BTS/Blackpink actually popular with the GP or are they fanbase driven / respected for being popular WW?

 

Also random, but I love Mino from Winner. Is he relevant in Korea to the GP?

[Selena Gomez]

Some of these groups only have high sales thanks to Chinese fans buying their albums through Hanteo/Gaon affiliated stores. If not for them only BTS plus 2 or 3 groups would pull 1M+ plus sales in South Korea. Big soloists don't usually sell more than 75-100k pure when many artists can easily do it in the US. 

[Selena Gomez]

5 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Are BTS/Blackpink actually popular with the GP or are they fanbase driven / respected for being popular WW?

Blackpink's Korean fanbase is really small compared to other groups who sell a lot less than them, but they're really popular among the GP so they usually do fairly well digitally. I also noticed less hate comments from Korean when they got big WW.

[getinthezone]

10 minutes ago, Selena Gomez said:

Blackpink's Korean fanbase is really small compared to other groups who sell a lot less than them, but they're really popular among the GP so they usually do fairly well digitally. I also noticed less hate comments from Korean when they got big WW.

Girlgroups hardly ever have a fanbase like boygroups, unless they cater towards incels

 

1 hour ago, Saintlor said:

Why are none of the best selling SK albums solo artists?

 

It's interesting how it's the opposite of western countries how solo stars are bigger

 It reflects Asian mentality, they’re the opposite of the west’s individualism

[Sorbet]

5 minutes ago, getinthezone said:

It reflects Asian mentality, they’re the opposite of the west’s individualism

This isn’t entirely true and wouldn’t explain why best selling acts were mostly soloists before the 2nd gen idol wave in the late 00’s, and are now almost exclusively large groups in a more modernized Korean society.

 

Idol culture is more complex than that and has nowadays become a multimedia projects for fans to enjoy.

 

This is a pretty interesting read if someone wants the long answer: https://pudding.cool/2020/10/kpop/

[Gateau]

1 hour ago, yamiyuuuu said:

Only boybands and girlbands and their members (idols) sell well in Korea. There are exceptions like IU, but her numbers pale in comparison. There are a lot of popular artists in Korea that have huge success singles-wise but they barely sell albums, so the physical albums are not really a reflection of their popularity but the size of the fanbase.

 

So no, the Korean music market is not bigger than the American one, just a bunch of big acts are selling a ton of albums.

You might want to add in the fact that digital albums are not counted as albums sold, like thay are in america. So soloists are still selling albums, they just all count as digital sales and not physical.  

 

44 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Are BTS/Blackpink actually popular with the GP or are they fanbase driven / respected for being popular WW?

 

Also random, but I love Mino from Winner. Is he relevant in Korea to the GP?

BTS' popularity is almost a direct link with patriotism and validation. This is why the push to get their song to #1 in america was such a huge deal. Their individual listeners numbers exploded after news of topping the BB H100 came out. They're popular in a "oh I know them, they're that one famous group" sort of way. Not in a ubiquitous genuine interest sort of way. BP is primarily popular with the GP, but that's girl groups in general.

 

Mino is (was?) very relevant, especially during SMTM.

[8thPrince]

54 minutes ago, Saintlor said:

Are BTS/Blackpink actually popular with the GP or are they fanbase driven / respected for being popular WW?

 

Also random, but I love Mino from Winner. Is he relevant in Korea to the GP?

Yes Mino can chart singles on the country’s main charts, has hit songs and public recognition from competing on a big rap-competition TV show

[Swirl900]

7 minutes ago, Gateau said:

You might want to add in the fact that digital albums are not counted as albums sold, like thay are in america. So soloists are still selling albums, they just all count as digital sales and not physical.  

 

BTS' popularity is almost a direct link with patriotism and validation. This is why the push to get their song to #1 in america was such a huge deal. Their individual listeners numbers exploded after news of topping the BB H100 came out. They're popular in a "oh I know them, they're that one famous group" sort of way. Not in a ubiquitous genuine interest sort of way. BP is primarily popular with the GP, but that's girl groups in general.

 

Mino is (was?) very relevant, especially during SMTM.

Basically all of this. @Saintlor

 

Korea only sells songs individually so if I bought...say Folklore it would count as one sale for the one, one sale for cardigan, etc. So artists like IU (who is easily the biggest artist of the century within korea) have huge sales for individual album tracks because the GP is actually interested. But it doesn't count towards her album stats unfortunately.

 

BTS and BP both have songs that are popular with the GP (spring day, boy with luv and several more for BP). Dynamite smashing though is in big part due to nationalism as Gateau explained.

It's groups like Seventeen or NCT for instance that have sold 1m+ on gaon but flop digitally.

[OrgVisual]

No because the chart also counts orders from international aka China, SEA, India blah blah

 

I bet Korean sales is 10% of that