The overall K-pop album sales on the Gaon Chart in May 2022 are the biggest monthly figure to date, showing a big difference from the results this past April and in May 2021.
Continue reading to know how many albums were sold last month and which releases recorded the highest sales.
K-pop Album Sales on Gaon Chart (May 2022) Become Biggest Monthly Record to Date
On June 15, Gaon Chart announced that the total sales of K-pop albums in May of this year nearly reached 10 million. Kim Jinwoo, a senior researcher at Gaon Chart, stated that the Top 400 album sales last month recorded a whopping total of 9,331,279 copies, an increase of 81.4% compared to the same period of last year.
What's more impressive is that the K-pop album sales in May marked a whopping 115.9% rise since April. Kim commented, "The monthly sales in May are the highest ever."
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Looking at last month's album sales by artists, SEVENTEEN's "Face the Sun" took the lead with more than two million copies sold on Gaon. The studio album was followed by works of other idol groups as well as solo artists, such as TXT, LE SSERAFIM, NCT DREAM, Lim Young Woong, GOT7, Kang Daniel, and more.
Kim Jinwoo said, "SEVENTEEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, and Lim Young Woong's sales accounted for 55% of the total album sales, marking about eight million copies more than the previous month."
The K-pop album sales on Gaon have been showing an upward trend for three months in a row since March. In April, the Top 400 album sales increased by 3.9% from the previous month owing to the new releases of popular singers like PSY and Lim Young Woong.
Kim Jinwoo added, "As long as there are no abnormalities, it seems to be a fact that album sales this year would exceed the sales figure of 57 million recorded last year."
Best-Selling K-pop Albums on Gaon Chart (May 2022) - Here's the Top 10
On June 9, Gaon released its monthly album chart for May, and as mentioned above, the K-pop album with the highest sales is SEVENTEEN's "Face the Sun." This studio album impressively sold a total of 2,239,351 copies.
"Face the Sun" was the only new release to reach two million during the tracking period. The figure consists of the sales in South Korea alone, proving the group's widespread popularity in their home country.
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The second best-selling K-pop album on Gaon in May 2022 is TXT's "minisode 2: Thursday's Child," which sold a total of 1,632,824 copies. This is the group's highest monthly figure in their career thus far and their first time hitting the one-million mark in South Korea since their debut.
The album with the third biggest sales in the previous month is Lim Young Woong's "IM HERO," which sold 1,138,876 copies. Notably, this studio album joins "Face the Sun" and "minisode 2: Thursday's Child" as the only album with over one million sales.
NCT Dream's "Beatbox" claims the No. 4 spot with 671,285 copies sold, while LE SSERAFIM's "FEARLESS" debuts at No. 5 with 412,696 copies sold. "FEARLESS" is the only girl group album to make it to the top 10 of Gaon's monthly album chart for May 2022.
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Taking the No. 6 spot is GOT7's self-titled EP with 398,959 copies sold. It is worth noting that this sales figure was tracked for only nine days since its release on May 23.
Next is ASTRO's "Drive to the Starry Road" with 252,989 copies sold from May 16 to 31. As it surpassed 250,000 sales, the studio album is eligible for a platinum certification from Gaon. It will become their third album to achieve the feat, following "All Yours" and "SWITCH ON."
ONEUS's "TRICKSTER" sits at No. 8 with 234,413 copies sold. With this, the boy group has now sold one million copies overall in Korea and Japan, earning a "million-seller" title.
Kang Daniel's "The Story" and its META version remarkably secured the Nos. 9 and 10 spots, respectively. The original version sold 169,105 copies, while the META version sold 150,000 copies. Overall, "The Story" sold 319,105 in May.
You can see the full list of Gaon's monthly album chart for May 2022 here.
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Written by Maria Scott
