Although this "underrated" K-pop idol only sold 9 album copies after release, fans are belatedly showing interest in his music after the artist boasted positivity despite sad news.

In K-pop, physical album sales became one of the biggest indicators of a group's success. This measures the support and purchasing power of a fandom, which is a huge factor in building position in the music scene.

While artists from the "BIG 4" often occupy space atop the rankings, there are actually a lot of musicians and acts from small/medium-sized companies who are not given the chance to show their full potential because of low physical album sales.

HELLO GLOOM Sells Only 9 Sold Copies on 1st Day of 'Mamacita' Album Release

Regardless of this, one K-pop idol touched the hearts of K-pop fans by reminding them that being an idol is not only about rising to popularity, but it's all about the music created, thanks to the hard work of numerous people behind it.

As a context, an X account dedicated to the physical and digital statistics of K-pop albums @/KOREAN SALES shared on March 27 the first day of sales of artist HELLO GLOOM, who dropped his fourth single album, "Mamacita."

Based on Hanteo Charts, the artist, who is also known as Ungjae of the K-pop boy group IMFACT, only sold 9 album copies, which is significantly low even for a rookie.

ALSO READ: Rookie Group Only Sells 28 Album Copies on Its 1st Week: 'They Deserve Better...'

The result is particularly shocking since he's not even a new star, but a 3rd-gen idol who debuted under Star Empire Entertainment in 2016.

While they established decent success in the past 8 years, especially among international fans, their fandom, IFs, seemed to scatter as well after the members began their military enlistment in 2020, and after they decided not to renew with Star Empire.

They attested to fans that they are not parting ways, but they eventually focused on their solo activities, with Ungjae co-establishing the label WAYBETTER, and has been promoting under the stage name HELLO GLOOM since then.

On March 22, he made a comeback with his fourth single album, "Mamacita."

IMFACT Ungjae Gains Admiration for Positivity Even After Selling Only 9 Albums

On the 27th, his physical album sales were then released and surprisingly, the idol who seemed to be checking his performance on X responded to it and expressed his real thoughts and feelings about it.

Rather than showing frustration over it, he was lauded for thanking the 9 fans who brought his album instead, and asked for other netizens to check his music and MV.

"Damn,, But thank you so much fans for buying my album. Actually, I'm not ashamed of it. They make our music and music videos really well, so please watch it. I believe they will all like it."

He continued:

"Whether it's nine or one, my fans who loved my album, I'll be a proud artist."

Ungjae also reposted it on his X feed and decided to look on the brighter side, saying:

"It doesn’t matter. We’re gonna be fine anyway."

Due to his attitude, this actually sparked more K-pop fans to check out his release and some are even showing interest in purchasing the album. His positive attitude was one of the reasons, but people are also emphasizing that upon listening to his release, it was actually pretty good and they are starting to become fans.

Meanwhile, HELLO GLOOM (Ungjae) embarks on a Europe tour in April, together with WAYBETTER's co-founder from20.

READ MORE: THIS 'Underrated' Girl Group Struggles to Reach 1k Sales After Comeback With 2nd Mini-Album

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Written by Eunice Dela Cruz