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| Members of EXO speak during a press conference to promote their new album "EX'ACT" at SMTown in Seoul, June 8. / Courtesy of SM Entertainment |
By Kim Jae-heun
K-pop boy band EXO and girl group GFriend each topped the album and digital rankings in the first half of this year according to the Gaon chart, a weekly national music chart compiled by the Korea Music Content Industry Association.
EXO of S.M. Entertainment recorded 452,607 album sales with its recently released Korean version of "EX'ACT" that ranked no. 1 on the Album Chart Top 100. The Chinese version of the boy band's third album sold 235,594 to rank third, totaling 688,201 as of June 18.
Big Hit Entertainment's boy group Bangtan Boys (BTS) ranked second with their third mini-album "Young Forever" selling 316,095 albums, followed by Pledis Entertainment's Seventeen, who recorded almost 200,000 in album sales.
Eight albums sold over 100,000 copies including the four previously mentioned artists' albums, and the rest are recently released albums of Got7, TWICE, Taemin of SHINeee and VIXX.
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| GFriend / Courtesy of Source Music |
Jaejoong of JYJ, who released his second solo album "No.X" in February while serving his military duty, couldn't top 100,000, but the album still ranked ninth. And Woohyun of Woolim Entertainment's boy band, Infinite, saw his first solo project finish 10th, selling 83,305 albums.
Idol groups dominated the chart of top 100 albums. In the top 10, only TWICE of JYP Entertainment represented female artists on the list.
KBS megahit drama series "Descendants of the Sun" and cable TV tvN's "Reply 1988" were also listed on the top 100 with successful sales of their soundtracks.
Apart from K-pop music, Korean prodigy pianist Cho Seong-jin's album of his performance at the Frederic Chopin Piano Competition sold 8,563 copies to rank 74th, and British singer Adele's "25" recorded 84th with 7,065 albums.
Meanwhile, female artists dominated the digital chart. Source Music's GFriend ranked no. 1 on the Digital Chart Top 100 with their latest title track "Rough" included in their third mini-album "Snowflake." Female duo Davici's "This Love" on the "Descendants of the Sun" soundtrack ranked second, followed by Korean rock band M.C the Max's eighth album title "No matter where" and TWICE's second mini-album's single "Cheer Up" at third and fourth, respectively.
International musicians were active on the digital chart as Adele's "Hello" ranked 54th, Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" hit 71st and Sam Smith's "I'm Not The Only One" reached 72nd.
