Out of one group that successfully sold more than 1 million albums in 2017, Kpop groups were awarded 18 million seller titles in 2022, which is 4 times more than in 2021.
Stray Kids had the most significant growth this year. The band first sold a million with their second album “NOEASY” in 2021 and broke that record by selling 1.75 million copies with their sixth mini-album “ODDINARY” in 2022.
Then the band became a “three million seller” with their seventh mini-album “MAXIDENT”.
Stray Kids are the only singers who have sold more than 3 million copies after BTS.
BTS sold 3.4 million copies of their album “Proof”, taking first place among Korean singers of 2022. This is the seventh consecutive year since 2016 that the band has achieved this feat.
On top of that, Jin, who released his first solo album “The Astronaut”, became a million seller as a solo artist after his band.
Seventeen, which became million sellers in 2020, has since also demonstrated steady growth and achieved remarkable results in 2022.
With their fourth album “Face the Sun”, which sold 2.7 million copies, they became “two million sales” for the second time in a row.
The young singers sold 1.45 million copies of their reworked album “SECTOR 17” to create a golden tour called “7 million sales in a row”.
NCT DREAM also had two mega hits. About 2.1 million copies of the second album “Glitch Mode” and 1.52 million copies of the reissued album “Beatbox” were sold. In addition, NCT 127 has sold 1.82 million copies of their fourth full-length album, Running.
BLACKPINK became million-selling with their first full album in 2020 and won the first double million-selling title with their second full album “BORN PINK” (about 2.5 million copies).
ENHANCE, which sold a million copies for the first time in 2021, also proved their potential with their third mini-album “MANIFESTO: Day 1 (Manifesto: Day 1)” (about 1.4 million copies).
There are also many other new million sellers. These are two male groups (TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ATEEZ), one male solo (Lim Yong-woon) and four female groups (AESPA, TWICE, ITZY and IVE). This is the result of both the growth of K-pop and a strong fascination with women’s groups.
