If every fan could only buy one copy, how many albums do you think the groups would sell?

  • Just exercise for fun. This is all speculative, as such there are no wrong answers. Feel free to explain your thought process or not


    I will put the sales of their last album release for each major group according to wikipedia (in millions of copies)


    - BTS: 3,794

    - Blackpink: 2,872

    - TWICE: 1,674

    - Seventeen: 5,507

    - EXO: 1,897

    - Stray Kids: 4,192

    - NewJeans: 2,028

    - IVE: 1,941

    - Aespa: 1,263

    - LSRF: 1,571

    - TxT: 2,736

    - NCT Dream: 4,582

    - NCT 127: 1,864

    - G Idle: 1,421

    - Enhypen: 1,969



    You can also state the sales for any group you want, don't be shy


    Don't need to answer every group either, answer only the ones you want

  • Ok starting. I'm familiar with both BTS and EXO sales. BTS sales are in fact lowballed already because their albums are hella expensive. If they were regularly priced I believe BTS sales right now would be something between 4.0 and 4.5 million


    As for EXO, I guess numbers close to their concert attendance are a given so at least 600k. Their mini album didn't use to have bulk buying and often only had one version. On average they sold 550 to 580k, and this was basically with local distribution. EXO sales currently would be 700-800k imo

  • Ok starting. I'm familiar with both BTS and EXO sales. BTS sales are in fact lowballed already because their albums are hella expensive. If they were regularly priced I believe BTS sales right now would be something between 4.0 and 4.5 million


    As for EXO, I guess numbers close to their concert attendance are a given so at least 600k. Their mini album didn't use to have bulk buying and often only had one version. On average they sold 550 to 580k, and this was basically with local distribution. EXO sales currently would be 700-800k imo

    Dumb question, so if you buy the set bundle for the release does it actually count as multiple sales? Or is it just one?

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  • So EXO would have never been a million-seller, damn then why they let those nugus get so big...


    I don't think concert attendance could be an indicator since there are lots of people who have bought their albums and never been to their concerts and don't leave out the people who have access to neither maybe they would buy a copy if given the access and the chance.


    In other news, so many million sellers these days and to think that one of the first groups leading that trend may have never deserved the title :teeheek:


    Sorry if I only focus on EXO, I don't follow any other group on that list

  • If the bundle comes with two copies/versions it will count twice

    Okay, so if I but say EXO Exist Photobook Version, 3 Version Set. (I'm not even going to get into how Exist has digipack and SMini versions as well)


    To get all three versions it counts the same as buying all three separately.


    I have never bought the sets before, so I'm guess that's just something put together by the store like Kpopmart. Not something made by the label (like a box with all three versions in it or something)

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  • I guess...


    I don't think fans buying more than one copy implies in any way the group does not deserve its sales though

    Of course it doesn't mean the group does not deserve the sale but it could be a topic of debate (people use this to downplay EXO's sales a lot and also the albums issue in two different languages).


    But it would be a good thing if bulk buyers donate the copies they buy to people who cannot get the albums in any way, that would be awesome.

  • Okay, so if I but say EXO Exist Photobook Version, 3 Version Set. (I'm not even going to get into how Exist has digipack and SMini versions as well)


    To get all three versions it counts the same as buying all three separately.


    I have never bought the sets before, so I'm guess that's just something put together by the store like Kpopmart. Not something made by the label (like a box with all three versions in it or something)

    Yes, when you buy the set all versions count like a different copy i.e. the set count as 3 copies


    I don't know if this is something the store is doing, but I'm inclined to believe it's not because I see the same sets in many different stores

  • Yes, when you buy the set all versions count like a different copy i.e. the set count as 3 copies


    I don't know if this is something the store is doing, but I'm inclined to believe it's not because I see the same sets in many different stores

    Okay, that clears it up. I was confused because I don't buy physical albums (I don't have a CD player, so they would just be something I can't use cluttering up the limited space in my living area)

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  • Ok starting. I'm familiar with both BTS and EXO sales. BTS sales are in fact lowballed already because their albums are hella expensive. If they were regularly priced I believe BTS sales right now would be something between 4.0 and 4.5 million


    As for EXO, I guess numbers close to their concert attendance are a given so at least 600k. Their mini album didn't use to have bulk buying and often only had one version. On average they sold 550 to 580k, and this was basically with local distribution. EXO sales currently would be 700-800k imo

    BTS last album also had just two versions. I think they can roughly do 7M now if they were doing normal 4 versions priced album


    But I place BTS 1 version sales at 3.5M normal priced.

    They sold BE deluxe( which was first released as one version) at a price of $50 and still did 1.9M sales before the cheaper version dropped

  • If all the groups release 1 version regular priced full length studio albums (not $10 digipacks or $50 expensive ones), I think all of them would need to focus alot on promotions than they usually do.


    BTS : I think BTS will still sell somewhere around 3.5m. They haven't had a regular album release since MOTS7 (2020) and 'Dynamite'. Their albums were so expensive that even if any non fans wanted to buy them, they wouldn't just because of the price. So I do think we haven't seen their actual peak in terms of album sales because mainly hardcore BTS fans have bought their albums since then. And all of those have sold somewhere around 3.5m....


    Seventeen : 800k-1m. I think their fans would also agree that their sales are inflated but still I feel they have enough fans that can buy around 1m albums.


    Stray Kids : 900k-1.2m. I feel their fandom is actually stronger than Seventeen's and still growing so I feel they can also do around 1m sales.


    TxT : 900k. They have more casual fans than hardcore fans tbt but I still feel they will just about miss 1m.


    Enhypen : 650k-900k. Their fandom goes back and forth with them so difficult to predict. It can go either way lol...


    Aespa : 500k. Their last album's sales have me confused so I don't know tbh...


    NewJeans : 600k-800k. Trendy group with lot more casual interest.


    NCT Dream : Really hard to predict this one. They don't feel big enough to sell even 600k tbh but their sales suggest they can sell 900k too lol...


    Exo : 500k. Past their peak. Only reason their album sales peaked last year is because of the inflation.


    Le Sserafim : 500k. It seems they do have a really active fandom because I see them being talked about positively more often than any other "4th gen" girl groups.


    Blackpink : 1m-1.5m. They should sell 1m at the very least but 1.5m seems difficult right now....


    NCT 127 : They have dropped so hard that I find it difficult to say they would sell even 500k tbh. Not even their fans talk about them anymore. It seem lots of them moved on to NCT Dream.


    Twice : 500k. Even though their core fandom is strong, I doubt Twice's ability to make people outside their fandom buy their albums at this point.


    Ive : 500k-600k. They have a pretty strong fandom for non "Big 4" girl group.


    (G)-Idle : 350k. Not as strong fandom as others.

  • Actually if every fan bought an album I believe it’ll far outnumber the mass buying lol.


    I think like easily 10 million people or more in the world care about kpop groups. That’s a low estimate btw

    Yeah, if you count all the casual fans, it will be enormous numbers.

    Because I'm a casual fan of more than 10 groups and that used to be even more.


    If all the multis and Army multis, Blink multis, Once multis etc, general GG stans or people who are interested in just one or two members in multiple groups, start buying an album of every group they like casually, sales will skyrocket.


    Case in point: Everglow. A few years ago, many people 'loved' Everglow. Most of those just liked their songs and weren't hardcore fans enough to buy albums. If all the people who did like them bought an album, they would have been global mega stars.

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