Girl Group Dominance in Streams, Boy Band Excellence in Album Sales Highlight the Year's Trends

Courtesy of ADOR

In the dynamic landscape of K-pop in 2023, NewJeans and Seventeen emerged as standout performers, with their respective achievements documented by local sales tracker Circle Chart.

According to Circle Chart's data covering the period from January 1 to December 23, NewJeans secured unparalleled success with their tracks "Ditto" and "Hype boy," ranking as the two most-streamed and downloaded songs of the year in South Korea. 

▲ Courtesy of ADOR

The girl group dominated the local digital song chart, with four songs securing positions in the top 10. "Ditto" claimed the top spot, followed by "Hype boy" at No. 2, "OMG" at No. 4, and "Attention" at No. 8. On the global stage, NewJeans continued their triumph, with "OMG" securing the No. 1 spot, "Ditto" at No. 2, "Super Shy" at No. 5, and "Hype boy" at No. 6.

NewJeans's second EP, "Get Up," released in July, sold 1.6 million copies, ranking 18th among the 100 best-selling albums of 2023. The girl group achieved a significant milestone by selling a total of 4.4 million copies of all their albums in the same year, marking the highest sales for any K-pop girl group, according to their agency ADOR.

▲ Courtesy of PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENTSeventeen, also under the HYBE umbrella, emerged as the best-selling artist in K-pop in terms of albums. Their 10th EP, "FML," released in April, set a record by selling 5.5 million copies, the highest not only in 2023 but the highest ever by any K-pop artist. The band's 11th EP, "Seventeenth Heaven," claimed the No. 3 spot in album sales with 4.8 million copies sold since October.

Reflecting a trend observed in year-end charts, girl groups excelled in streams, while boy bands dominated album sales, a distinction often attributed to differences in their target audiences. Girl groups, with broader appeal, tend to excel in streams, while boy bands, focusing on dedicated fan clubs, command higher album sales.

In 2023, only two out of the top 20 most-streamed and downloaded songs were by male acts. Noteworthy contributions came from girl groups such as NewJeans, IVE, (G)-IDLE, Le Sserafim, and aespa. On the album sales front, only five albums by female acts — aespa, IVE, Twice, and NewJeans — secured spots in the top 20 list. Boy bands, including Seventeen, Stray Kids, NCT Dream, Tomorrow X Together, ZeroBaseOne, and Enhypen, along with individual members Jungkook and V of BTS, dominated the list of best-selling artists in 2023.

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Blue YIM, yimyoungseo1010@naver.com