Continuing on from yesterday’s particle, we step straight into part four of our series of the best-selling albums in South Korean history.
Our list of the ninety-seven albums which have sold more than one million copies in South Korea - making them the best-selling albums in South Korean history - continues with the next ten entries: numbers sixty through fifty-one.
The figures showcased in this series of articles were sourced from Wikipedia, and all album figures were correct at the time of writing.
60: Kim Gun-mo - Another Days (1,397,388 copies sold)
For the third time in this list, please welcome soloist Kim Gun-mo.
This time appearing with his seventh studio album - 2001’s “Another Days” - it marked Kim Gun-mo’s best-selling album in five years.
“Another Days” has sold almost 1.4 million copies around South Korea.
59: Seventeen - Sector 17 (1,398,796 copies sold)
Seventeen is back again for the third time in this list of the best-selling albums in South Korean history.
Released just one month ago, “Sector 17” is a repackage of earlier released album “Face the Sun”, featuring new lead single “World”.
The repackaged album surpassed more than 1,000,000 copies sold within just three days of its release, and has almost reached 1.4 million copies nationwide within a month.
*Please note: As a popular recent release, figures for this album may drastically change, and the above figures were correct at the time of writing.
58: Kim Won-jun - While You Were Not Here (1,400,000 copies sold)
Also known as Dearro, pop singer and actor Kim Won-jun made his musical debut in 1992, and his acting debut just two years later.
Kim Won-jun’s third studio album - 1994’s “While You Were Not Here” - is his best-selling album ever, selling a total of 1.4 million copies.
57: Shin Seung-hun - Reflection of You in Your Smile (1,400,000 copies sold)
The “Emperor of Ballads” is back.
Shin Seung-hun returns to this list with his debut album from 1990. The ten-track album “Reflection of You in Your Smile” was an incredible success for an artist’s debut.
“Reflection of You in Your Smile” sold 1.4 million copies across South Korea.
56: Stray Kids - Noeasy (1,425,632 copies sold)
JYP Entertainment’s only current K-pop boy group - Stray Kids - makes their debut into the list of the best-selling albums in South Korea.
The group’s 2021 album “Noeasy” (wordplay on the words “noisy” and “no easy”) came almost a year after their previous Korean release, the reissue of “In Life”.
The fourteen-track album was produced by 3Racha (Stray Kids members Bang Chan, Changbin, and Han) along with a variety of Korean and foreign songwriters and producers.
“Noeasy” achieved sales figures in South Korea of just over 1.42 million albums.
55: Exo - Don’t Mess Up My Tempo (1,452,030 copies sold)
The SM Entertainment Chinese-South Korean boy group EXO makes their triumphant return with another best-selling album.
The group’s 2018 release and their fifth studio album, “Don’t Mess Up My Tempo”, marked Chinese member Lay’s first appearance with EXO in two years. The album came available in four versions: “Allegro”, “Moderato”, “Andante”, and “Vivace”.
“Don’t Mess Up My Tempo” sold more than 1.45 million copies nation-wide, and was later repackaged as the album “Love Shot” the next month.
54: Seventeen - Your Choice (1,462,405 copies sold)
For the fourth time, thirteen-member Pledis Entertainment boy group Seventeen makes another best-selling album appearance.
The six-track EP “Your Choice” was released in June of 2021, coming some eight months after their previous release with “Semicolon”, and featured the lead single “Ready to Love”.
Selling more than 1.46 million copies to date, “Your Choice” actually sold 1.36 million copies within its first week, and marked the group’s first entry onto the US Billboard 200.
53: BTS - Wings (1,498,582 copies sold)
BTS returns to the list for the third time, this time coming in just outside of the top fifty.
Previously discussed as its previous entry on the list as a repackaged album as “You Never Walk Alone”, it’s predecessor in “Wings” was BTS’ 2016 release with fifteen tracks was headed by the song “Blood Sweat & Tears”.
The album, which was heavily influenced by Hermann Hesse’s coming-of-age novel “Demian”, sold almost 1.5 million copies.
52: H.O.T. - Wolf and Sheep (1,500,000 copies sold)
SM Entertainment’s very first K-pop idol group, the pentet of H.O.T., make their return to the list.
The highly anticipated follow-up album to their debut of “We Hate All Kinds of Violence” in 1996, H.O.T.’s 1997 release with “Wolf and Sheep” showed the group’s ongoing success.
The nine-track album sold 1.5 million copies nation-wide, and won the Album of the Year Award and Main Prize and the 1997 Golden Disc Awards. The single “We Are the Future” was also nominated for the International Viewer’s Choice for MTV Asia at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.
51: H.O.T. - We Hate All Kinds of Violence (1,500,000 copies sold)
Speaking of the five member boy group’s debut album “We Hate All Kinds of Violence”, it comes straight after “Wolf and Sheep” on this list.
The group’s debut album also sold 1.5 million copies around South Korea, and made the group the basis of how future K-pop idol groups would be formed.
Have you listened to any of the albums listed above, or do you own any of them? Which of these ten albums are your favourite? Let us know by commenting on our socials @KpopWise. And make sure to tune in tomorrow as we showcase the albums from number fifty to forty-one on our list of the best-selling albums in South Korean history.