The difference in sales between top boy groups and top girl groups is still shocking as hell

44 million copies sold is actual madness

Quote from bartkun

2021

IVE - 11,660,648 copies sold

EPEX - 1,167,933 copies sold

Boygroup IVE

Seventeen has sold 40 million albums!? Are you kidding me?!

sales seem to be dropping

but why is it shocking?

BG have always exceeded GG in terms of album sales and GG have generally charted better than BG

Quote from bartkun

The difference in sales between t‍op boy groups and t‍op girl groups is still shocking as hell

I actually created a thread about this very topic a few months ago: Something Never Before Attempted: Comparing 14 Years of Boy Group Versus Girl Group Physical Sales

GaonCircleAlbumSalesByArtistType2011-2024.png

the majority of kpop (all pop) music are women.

Why is it even surprising? Girl groups dominate charts because the GP listens to them more, while boy groups have stronger, more loyal fandoms. And honestly, it doesn’t matter if some fans toss the albums after pulling photocards ,they still buy them, and BGs earn the most from album sales and tours. Tours are the most profitable part of an idol’s career, and you don’t need the GP’s approval if your fandom is big. For longevity, it’s always better to have a solid fandom than rely on the GP. Just look at Taylor Swift compared to those artists who rely solely on gp taste.

The most shocking part is the sale difference in Japan.

Oricon sale numbers only counts Japanese purchases so it represents the selling powers better than Korean sales which can be affected by international purchases.

Here are the best selling albums of kpop groups in Japan this year:

Quote

1. Stray Kids – Hollow — 645,575

2. SEVENTEEN – HAPPY BURSTDAY — 494,484

3. TXT – The Star Chapter: TOGETHER — 415,373

4. ENHYPEN – DESIRE : UNLEASH — 363,330

5. Stray Kids – KARMA — 328,075

6. ZEROBASEONE – PREZENT — 323,782

7. TXT – Starkissed — 318,384

8. BOYNEXTDOOR – No Genre — 239,289

9. IVE – Be Alright — 226,091

10. TREASURE – PLEASURE — 208,823

11. TREASURE – LOVE PULSE — 174,960

12. TWICE – ENEMY — 161,182

13. Jin – Echo — 161,051

14. Stray Kids – HOP — 158,761

15. RIIZE – ODYSSEY — 157,783

16. BOYNEXTDOOR – The Action

17. ATEEZ – Ashes to Light — 145,764

18. ZEROBASEONE – NEVER SAY NEVER — 137,440

19. ZEROBASEONE – BLUE PARADISE — 103,585

20. NCT WISH – WISHFUL — 102,069

21. SEVENTEEN – SPILL THE FEELS — 100,113

22. TWS – TRY WITH US — 99,638

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2nd to 5th are all Korean languages albums.

Normally, Korean albums are hard to sell than Japanese albums, yet SKZ, Seventeen, TXT, ENHYPEN still managed to sell 1.5x to 3x Japanese albums of girl groups.

Of course Korean albums of girl groups won't even have chance to appear on this list in that climate.

Quote from Ciana02

Why is it even surprising? Girl groups dominate charts because the GP listens to them more, while boy groups have stronger, more loyal fandoms. And honestly, it doesn’t matter if some fans toss the albums after pulling photocards ,they still buy them, and BGs earn the most from album sales and tours. Tours are the most profitable part of an idol’s career, and you don’t need the GP’s approval if your fandom is big. For longevity, it’s always better to have a solid fandom than rely on the GP. Just look at Taylor Swift compared to those artists who rely solely on gp taste.

The most profitable part by margin are brand ambassadors, by absolute number are merchandisers.

Profit margins of tours are not that high, especially oversea tours. Blackpink's latest tour generated 330 mil $ ticket sale, but YG's total concert revenue in 2022+2023 was only 95 mil $ (including Treasure's around that time), the profit would be even lower, probably less than 15%.