Here are the best-selling K-pop albums of 2018

The Gaon Music Chart is hailed as South Korea’s “most reliable album chart”, and has just renewed its listing for 2018’s albums that are certified “platinum” and “million”. The Gaon Music Chart looks at the sales of physical albums released in South Korea after 1 January 2018, as well as singles that have been released for more than six weeks. Albums that sell over 250,000 copies are certified “platinum”, while those that break the 1,000,000 milestones will be awarded the “million” certification. With that, let us look at some of the best-selling K-pop albums of the year!

BTS sells 3,000,000 copies over two albums

Korean supergroup BTS released two albums in 2018 with the “Love Yourself” theme. With the support from fans all over the world, their album sales have soared, breaking numerous K-pop records.

"Love Yourself: Tear", which was released in May, received a “million” certification, while the subsequent release "Love Yourself: Answer"got a “2 x million” certification. With a total album sales of 3 million over two albums, BTS are the top-selling group in 2018. With this stellar result, they have sold a total of 9,815,626 albums in their entire career.

Wanna Onereceives five “platinum” certifications

Boyband Wanna One, which emerged from talent search reality show Produce 101, received a “3 x Platinum” certification with their March album "0+1=1 (I Promise You)". Their next album, "1÷X=1 (Undivided)", released in June, also got a “2 x Platinum" certification.

From their debut in 2017 till now, Wanna One has been the “hot topic” group in the K-pop industry. Their sales thus far have reached 2,899,079 albums. Will their latest album in November "1¹¹=1 (Power Of Destiny)"be able to do as well?

Six major K-pop groups receive eight “platinum” certifications

Besides the shocking sales of BTS and Wanna One, 2018 also saw six other major bands receive eight “platinum” certifications between them. JYP’s GOT7 and TWICE proved their popularity with the albums "Present: YOU", "Eyes On You", "What Is Love"and "Summer Nights".

Nu’est W, from the second season of Produce 101, also received a “platinum” certification with their May album "Who", "You", as did EXO-CBX with "Blooming Days".

In addition, newcomer boy bands SEVENTEEN and NCT, both of which boast large numbers of members, also received the honour with "You Make My Day"and NCT 2018"Empathy"respectively.

EXO’s latest album "Don’t Mess Up My Tempo", has already broken the one million milestones in its sales. However, as it has not been released for six weeks yet, it has not received the official certification from Gaon Music Chart’s November update. However, another report from Gaon has shown that EXO’s total sales among all their albums have reached 10,617,948, making them the first ever K-pop artistes to surpass the 10 million mark.

With groups like Nu’est W and Wanna One preparing albums releases in December, we can look forward to seeing more albums enter this list by the end of the year.

This year has seen many K-pop idols moving into international markets. Their popularity has also been reflected in their album sales. While digital music is dominant nowadays, K-pop artistes have continued to up their game in terms of physical album design, packaging them along with collateral such as photobooks and idol cards, serving as collectibles for the fans.

How many of these albums on the list have you purchased?

Information |Gaon Chart

Translation | Yoke Ming