Thanks for this well-researched analysis, I agree with your thoughts on the causes of the sales boom and the likely decline in the coming year. Not for all artists, but for many.
It Looks Like We've Hit Peak Physical Sales (An Analysis of 13 Years of Gaon/Circle Monthly Album Sales Data)
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The sales will decrease further looking at the current trends of things with disinformation, climate change, conflict, COVID-19, inflation etc. It's interesting so many groups still selling millions of albums.
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Pandemic along with 'Dynamite' blowing up brought lots of new people's attention to kpop in 2020 which is one of the reasons why sales uprise from 2021. But in 2020, kpop companies except HYBE didn't make much profits because of no touring possible and almost all online concerts flopping except BTS ones. That's when companies started doing lots of gimmicks to increase the album sales because it was the only way to make profits for them. And it worked that's why they pushed the gimmicks as much as they could hence the upward curve only growing even in 2022. But in 2023, they reached a plateau where they can't do more gimmicks anymore without making it look ludicrous. You can't sell albums for less than $5, right? You can't be doing 30+ versions, right? Hence kpop sales stagnating in 2023. And with real world issues hitting us hard, they are going down in 2024. I won't be surprised if they reach 2021 levels by the end of this year....
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Great job presenting the data and analysis of it
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The ascendancy of Chinese K-pop fans, who seem particularly prone to bulk-buying. The Chinese are also prone to be akgae fans for some reason, which may encourage competition between C-bars
This is double edget sword because the moment their bias starts solo career, in 9 out of 10 cases, they stop investing in a group or even in a sub unit.
Like... EXO solo bars have lowered their participation years ago, luckily exo has more group fans, but I feel like with certain groups this will be more noticeable.
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This is double edget sword because the moment their bias starts solo career, in 9 out of 10 cases, they stop investing in a group or even in a sub unit.
Like... EXO solo bars have lowered their participation years ago, luckily exo has more group fans, but I feel like with certain groups this will be more noticeable.
EXO bar keeping EXO on top. We love them.
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Fortunately, BTS as a group is not a group that depends on Chinese bars a lot, but their solo bars are still quite big. V's Chinese bar is one of the biggest bars and they ordered 800K for his solo album, the biggest solo order ever. Jungkook's solo bar also ordered around 500K+. There seems to be no problem with them for now.
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I would guess it's mostly just follow the trend of increased populartity of kpop and the increased of online shopping and maybe later it have declined a bit.
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I learned exo c-fans and other c-fans are not the same. We lucked out fr fr!
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IMO these new groups selling in China is a farce. lol. They sell more so much but their popularity isn’t even fraction of EXO’s. Very sus indeed.
It is not even about popularity it is about insanity! EXOs cfans are some rich unnies who get together on exo and exol anniversary, organize bomb events, sip tea, eat cookies, send support trucks and order albums. I love them, I want to be them when I grow up
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Interesting read
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Unfortunately it's not as straightforward with Circle's Digital Chart. The problem is that the digital scores that Circle is currently reporting only started in 2018. Prior to that, they used separate Download and Streaming Scores.
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This is double edget sword because the moment their bias starts solo career, in 9 out of 10 cases, they stop investing in a group or even in a sub unit.
Like... EXO solo bars have lowered their participation years ago, luckily exo has more group fans, but I feel like with certain groups this will be more noticeable. While enjoying the perks of solo careers, it's important to consider the impact on group dynamics. Similarly, accessing discounts and promo codes can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it provides individual benefits, but on the other, it might divert attention and resources away from the collective. Just like how bias in K-pop groups can affect their dynamics, patronizing discount sites like Emporium may lead to less investment in group-related activities over time.
In EXO's case, you're talking about how the group members' personal fan clubs cut down their activity years ago. This may be due to the fact that EXO members have already achieved success in their solo careers. They released successful albums, received awards and achieved popularity in other countries. As a result, EXO fans are more focused on their biases' solo projects than the group as a whole.
Of course, this is not always the case. In some cases, band members' solo careers can even increase support for the band. For example, when group members release solo songs or albums together, it can attract the attention of new fans and attract them to the group.
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In EXO's case, you're talking about how the group members' personal fan clubs cut down their activity years ago. This may be due to the fact that EXO members have already achieved success in their solo careers. They released successful albums, received awards and achieved popularity in other countries. As a result, EXO fans are more focused on their biases' solo projects than the group as a whole.
Of course, this is not always the case. In some cases, band members' solo careers can even increase support for the band. For example, when group members release solo songs or albums together, it can attract the attention of new fans and attract them to the group.
Solo bars have stopped investing in exo before solo debuts, somewhere around 2017-ish I would say. But group core fandom is strong, which is rarity at least from what I noticed recently.
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