SM Entertainment, home to EXO, NCT, Red Velvet, and more, took the lead in album sales for May 2021. HYBE, which houses BTS, TXT, ENHYPEN, and more, came in second place on the list.
Read more to know how many albums SM Entertainment and HYBE sold last month.
SM Entertainment Has the Most Album Sales for May 2021, HYBE Follows
On June 14, Hyun Yong Kim, a researcher at Hyundai Motor Securities, revealed the album sales this past May, particularly the earnings of SM Entertainment and HYBE.
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According to the researcher, a total of 5.17 million copies were sold in May 2021, an increase of 81% compared to the same period of the previous year.
Additionally, cumulative sales in the second quarter (April to June) already recorded 18.8 million.
By agency, SM Entertainment gained the highest album sales in May among the companies after selling a total of 2.86 million copies in that month.
Researcher Hyun Yong Kim stated that SM Entertainment's album sales for May 2021 were led by NCT.
As many can recall, NCT's sub-unit NCT Dream's new album "Hot Sauce" sold more than two million copies a few days before May concluded. As of May 25, the album recorded a total of 2,040,360 copies sold, just 16 days following release.
This is a new record for NCT Dream as they have sold about 300,000 copies more in addition to their stock pre-orders of 1.71 million copies.
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The researcher added that NCT's cumulative album sales this year totaled 4.06 million, an impressive 117% increase compared to the same period in 2020. In music streaming, NCT reached 150 million digital points, according to the Gaon Digital Chart for May 2021.
As a result, NCT ranks second in idol groups after BTS, which recorded 280 million digital points on Gaon last month.
Meanwhile, HYBE had the second-highest amount of album sales after selling a total of 1.12 million copies this past May. Researcher Hyun said that this result includes the shipped copies of TXT's new album and BTS's existing albums.
In particular, TXT has recorded 720,000 copies sold in May alone, while BTS sold 210,000 copies.
When the sales volume of SM Entertainment and HYBE are combined, the two companies recorded 3.99 million, accounting for 77% of the market.
Congratulations to SM Entertainment and HYBE!
Researcher Reveals Expected Album Sales of SM Entertainment, HYBE, and JYP Entertainment in Second Quarter of 2021
Aside from the album sales in May 2021, Hyun Yong Kim also shared the predictions in album sales this June and the second quarter of 2021.
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The researcher said that the album sales in June are expected to be 6.5 million, and the sales volume in the second quarter of this year is projected to exceed the high record of 17.07 million copies, which were tallied in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Researcher Hyun added that they predict that a total of 17.39 million copies will be sold in the second quarter of 2021, which would be an increase of 80% compared to the same period of 2020.
Yong Kim further stated that by agency, HYBE would sell 2.67 million copies, while SM Entertainment would record 1.48 million copies and JYP Entertainment would ship 1.1 million copies.
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Written by Mhaliya Scott
