While G-Dragon's fans from all over the world are applauding his creativity in releasing his solo comeback "Kwon Ji Yong" in USB format, Gaon Chart is not among those who support the idea. The Korean album sales organization is refusing to accept "Kwon Ji Yong" as an album and the decision is expected to shake things up for the K-pop scene.
It can be recalled that unlike other albums, G-Dragon decided to be innovative and do away with typical CD for the physical album. Instead, the physical album came in USB form which contains G-Dragon's personal information like his name, birthday and blood type in his handwriting, which fans appreciated, Kpopstarz reported
According to All Kpop, Gaon Chart cited that "Kwon Ji Yong" does not count as an album because it does not contain the actual tracks but rather links in which users can download the songs using a special key. This means that Gaon Chart will not be including the sales for "Kwon Ji Yong" in its count of album sales.
The decision of Gaon Chart runs contrary to another organization, Music Chart site Hanteo, which will consider the sales for G-Dragon's "Kwon Ji Yong" in its own tally. The Korean Music Content Association has also ruled that they will accept "Kwon Ji Yong" as an album even though it comes in USB form and count its album sales.
The decision of Gaon Chart is expected to significantly affect "Kwon Ji Yong's" performance in music shows because of the different criteria that they employ decide weekly winners. Inkigayo and Music Core use sales data from Gaon Chart but Music Bank and M Countdown use records from Hanteo.
This also means that G-Dragon's solo comeback would be disqualified from the annual Gaon Chart Awards next year as none of the sales for his widely successful album will be included in the tally. It can be recalled that many fans were already expecting "Kwon Ji Yong" to be a strong contender for "Album of the Year" because of the positive feedback the entire album received from reviewers. The album has also charted at #1 in 40 country on the iTunes charts and smashed real time all kill records in less than an hour upon release.
While some music fans understood where Gaon Chart was coming from, many were outraged at the decision, citing the company's refusal to accept something new which may eventually become the norm. A lot of fans said that that more than the numbers, what validates G-Dragon's album is his itself and not its status on the sales charts.
