On Dec. 10, Billboard Japan revealed its year-end charts for 2021 including the Hot Albums Chart. In the rankings, top K-pop artists like BTS, SEVENTEEN, TWICE and BLACKPINK as well as fourth-generation leaders like TXT, ENHYPEN and TREASURE are included.
Continue reading to know which K-pop albums made it to the chart.
BTS, SEVENTEEN, 2PM and SHINee are the only 2nd and 3rd-Generation K-pop Boy Groups on Billboard Japan's Hot Albums Year-End Chart (2021)
BTS has four entries to Billboard Japan's Hot Albums Chart. Notably, the septet claimed the top spot of the rankings with their latest Japanese compilation album "BTS, THE BEST."
BTS' "BTS, THE BEST" broke the first-week sales record of any album released in 2021 on the Oricon Chart in just one day. A total of 571,589 copies were sold on June 16, surpassing the first-week sales of 467,000 achieved by SixTONES' "1ST."
ALSO READ: BTS Ranks No. 1 on 9 of Billboard's Year-End Charts for 2021 + Enters Other Charts
The other BTS albums on Billboard Japan's year-end chart are "BE" at No. 7, "Butter" at No. 17 and "MAP OF THE SOUL: 7 ~THE JOURNEY~" at No. 58.
SEVENTEEN has two entries on the chart and they are both the boy group's latest releases: "Attacca" and "Your Choice." While "Attacca" ranked No. 8, "Your Choice" debuted at No. 14.
Meanwhile, SHINee's "SUPERSTAR" claimed the No. 60 spot while 2PM's "WITH ME AGAIN" entered at No. 69.
TXT, ENHYPEN, More Fourth-Generation K-pop Groups Enter Billboard Japan's Year-End Chart for Hot Albums (2021)
Among the fourth-generation K-pop boy groups that released new albums this year, only TXT, ENHYPEN, NCT 127, NCT Dream and TREASURE made it to the year-end chart.
TXT, in particular, secured the highest rank among them with their first Japanese EP "Chaotic Wonderland," which debuted at No. 19. Besides the EP, the quintet landed two more albums - "The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE" and "STILL DREAMING" grabbed the Nos. 31 and 38 respectively.
READ MORE: ENHYPEN's 'Fever', CIX's 'Cinema' and More Named as TIME's Best K-Pop Songs of 2021 + B.I's 'Waterfall', Stray Kids' 'NOEASY' and More the Best Albums
NCT 127 took No. 23 with their second Japanese EP "LOVEHOLIC." Trailing behind the sub-unit, ENHYPEN placed No. 28 with their first full album "DIMENSION: DILEMMA." The rookie group's previous albums "BORDER: CARNIVAL" and "BORDER: DAY ONE" also entered at Nos. 51 and 61 respectively.
The other fourth-generation albums on Billboard Japan's year-end chart for Hot Albums (2021) are TREASURE's "THE FIRST STEP: TREASURE EFFECT" (No. 50), NCT Dream's "Hot Sauce" (No. 55) and NCT Dream's "Hello Future" (No. 100).
TWICE and BLACKPINK are the Only K-pop Girl Groups that Entered Billboard Japan's Year-End Chart for Hot Albums (2021)
While numerous albums by K-pop boy groups entered the year-end chart, only two albums by K-pop girl groups are included and these are the works of TWICE and BLACKPINK.
TWICE took No. 48 with their latest Japanese full album "Perfect World." This album contains a total of 10 songs including the title track "Perfect World" and three pre-release songs, "Fanfare," "Better" and "Kura Kura."
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: BTS, TWICE and Epik High Included in Rolling Stone's 'The 50 Best Songs of 2021'
Meanwhile, BLACKPINK secured No. 88 on Billboard Japan's Hot Albums Chart with their first Korean full album "THE ALBUM," which made the quartet the first Korean million-seller girl group after selling more than 1.2 million copies globally.
EXO Baekhyun is the Only K-pop Soloist to Land on Billboard Japan's Year-End Chart for Hot Albums (2021)
Finally, EXO Baekhyun took No. 49 with his first Japanese EP "Baekhyun." The EXO member is the only Korean soloist to make it to Billboard Japan's year-end chart for 2021.
Congratulations to all K-pop artists!
For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.
KpopStarz owns this article
Written by Mhaliya Scott
