1 Million is now the threshold for top group sales - but why only 4 of them had concerts at the biggest venue?

    Acts who sold more than 2million single albums


    BTS

    BlackPink

    Stray Kids

    Seventeen

    NCT Dream


    Acts who sold 1m-2m single albums

    Aespa

    NCT 127

    NCT

    EXO

    IVE

    Twice

    Itzy

    txt

    enhypen


    (I might have missed one or two, but that's what I got)


    So , counting all the NCTs as one, 12 acts so far have sold more than one million albums. (Individual members' sales are not counted separately.)


    With all these sales, the highest venue, the Chamshil Olympic Stadium, which was supposed to be closed for renovation but now has another concert on Oct 25 for NCT 127, should be full of concerts every week .


    But, other than the two concerts of NCT (Dream and 127) held on Sep and Oct, which would be held in half-capacity because the Gochuck indoor stadium is being used for a Korean baseball league playoff (after Oct it becomes too cold to use outside stadiums in Korea)


    only EXO and BTS held concerts at the highest venue.


    And, someone who will never show up in the exalted list above had a concert at that location on Sep 17 and 18.


    What the hell is that?


    Why the people running the stadium did not allow acts selling millions of albums to have concerts there but allowed someone who has sold only about 450,000 top sales (two versions) to have a concert there?


    We don't know who will have the most viewed videos of this year, but last year


    Thread
    The Gap between International Fans and K-O-R-E-A-N fans - most viewed videos of 2021
    The most viewed Kpop music video of 2021 is , according to this clip which was just released today (Dec 15),

    youtube.com/watch?v=FtT6N0Ep81k

    BTS' Butter at 643M views.

    But,

    youtube.com/watch?v=oF_apNhuGoU
    (in Korean)

    Youtube Korea certified that

    youtube.com/watch?v=wDfqXR_5yyQ
    This, with an underwhelming 34.6 million views as of today,

    is the Most Viewed Youtube Video of ALL of K-O-R-E-A

    in 2021.

    The most viewed music video in Korea is Lim Youngwoong's Starry Love, with 44M views but apparently there are…
    WhyKnock


    At least, in K-O-R-E-A the clip of the singer who only sold 450,000 copies of her album, before all these million sellers, was seen by the most people there.


    Stray Kids has sold the most album in K-O-R-E-A-N history just after BTS, so since BTS is in a semi-hiatus Stray Kids would be the ranking top act of K-O-R-E-A,


    but when Stray Kids had a concert at the KSPO Dome (better known as simply 'Gymnastics'),


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    the singer who only sold 450,000 copies had a concert at the Olympic Stadium, same day.


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    (Of course they paid filial duty to the singer who sold less than them


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    )


    What is that?


    It is a question I tried to find a solution for many moons, and as more time passes, I find the answer harder to find.

    All of those sales aren't happening in one country and not everyone is capable of flying to Korea to attend a concert.


    That should be common sense. :pepe-shrug:

    A minute ago you were complaining about no one playing stadiums in Korea, now that two more groups are playing them (NCT Dream and NCT 127), you're complaining it's not enough groups? ;judgingpepe:


    What Quarkie said - that not all of those album sales for these groups comes from Korea. Just as important, we're only just out of the pandemic - most of the groups you've listed are 4th gen groups. While they had tremendous strides, most are only on their first or second tours due to the pandemic halt. Of course they want to ensure they sell out arenas before tackling stadiums. The two NCT sub-units are much older groups with tours under their belts.

    ..............................................................................................................perfume

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    Quote from quarkie

    All of those sales aren't happening in one country and not everyone is capable of flying to Korea to attend a concert.


    That should be common sense. :pepe-shrug:

    Well shouldn't some of them be dedicated enough to stay in K-O-R-E-A for a little bit to see their faves?

    Quote from WhyKnock

    Well shouldn't some of them be dedicated enough to stay in K-O-R-E-A for a little bit to see their faves?

    What part of "not everyone can afford to fly to Korea" did you not understand? Do you think spending $40-100 on albums a couple of times a years is the same as spending over $1k for a trip to Korea?

    Big Bang and TVXQ can stack Japanese Domes without getting near that AND those Domes probably earn more than any Korean Stadium.


    So Album Sales really only matter if the Sales are from a country that the company wants to hold a Concert.


    It's also a reality that China Bars, which generally bulk buy albums through donations are ignored by most Kpop Companies due to them not having many or any Concerts in China

    Quote from Armedryu

    You can still perform in many different Domes with slightly less audience in Japan instead of just one Jamsil stadium in Korea

    Actually that place is the only place in Korea with more than 50,000 capacity. The soccer stadium is now not used for concerts because of complaints from K-O-R-E-A_Nsoccer fans, and the next largest is the Gochuck which has perhaps a 25,000 (usually less)capacity.

    • Not all album sales come from S.Korea, C-Bars are probably the largest buyers.
    • Not all album sales are to unique buyers, Fans bulk buy to inflate their faves, so album numbers are not true reflection of actual individual count.
    • Attending concert requires more commitment than just money, it is time, travel/commute and logistics, so album sales need not have a correlation to concert attendance.
    • Attending concerts, is not a common cultural thing in S.K. A certain threshold to fame needs to be achieved to pull 40000+ people, not many have achieved that despite social media perceptions. SM/SNS fame is misleading, of the people with vociferous opinions on Web, only a small percentage will translate to action. As any marketer can attest.

    So the situation is hardly surprising.


    But the things unstated by you, is regarding your object of obsession.


    How does IU who absolutely kills in digital charts, can sell out 40000+ tickets to concerts, cannot outsell groups when it comes to physical albums, so much so that her first album bonsang comes after 13 years?


    People argue the size of fandoms. But fandoms matter only when they put their money where their "ear/eyes and mouth" are, and Uaena simply are no match to the fandoms of K-pop groups when it comes to that.

    But then no soloist fandom is, unless the soloist is from a popular group.


    TL;DR - Physical album sales is not much relevant to Digital sales or to Concerts.

    interesting, I didn’t realise that concert going “is not a common cultural thing” in SK. No disrespect, what proof do you have for making that claim?

    Quote from KpopJop

    interesting, I didn’t realise that concert going “is not a common cultural thing” in SK. No disrespect, what proof do you have for making that claim?

    This has been discussed many times.. I think even Whyknock made a thread about it.


    Many Kpop groups have easily sold out stadiums .. but all outside Korea.. only few elite have done so in Korea itself.


    Secondly anything cultural is 'relative',

    i.e. compared to say Japan, where there is a premium on seeing entertainers in person - the whole AKB model is based on that, Korea is not that much into it.

    And compared to the West, where irrespective of interest in a specific artist, going to a concert just to hang out is not unusual, Koreans seems to prefer smaller venues, cafe etc..


    So not really 'proof', but 'perceptions' based on the trends of past few years.

    I get what you mean now. I thought you were saying that Koreans don’t enjoy live music which sounded absurd, but it sounds like you were making a comparison specifically for fandom-driven idol concert attendance in SK versus that for outside SK


    the idea of an entire race of people not enjoying live music had me puzzled ngl

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