What happened to 2nd gen album sales?

  • Highest selling 2nd gen boy group album:


    TVXQ "Mirotic " (2008) 604k


    Highest selling 2nd gen girl group album:


    Girls Generation "The Boys" (2011) 464k


    These are two of the biggest kpop groups of all time yet neither could reach a million.


    These were still great sales. "Mirotic" was the first Korean album to surpass 500k in 4 years since Seo Taiji "7th Issue" (2004).


    Second gen was just in a weird spot. Cause 1st and 3rd gen could reach a million easily.

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  • The agencies hadn't cultivated the international lunatic base yet.

    This is actually so spot on and genius I'm already awarding you best answer.

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  • wow who is tvxq ?

    I know they re duo now

    Not sure if you're joking or not. But TVXQ was the group that revived kpop in the mid 2000s. They were arguably the biggest boy group in the world until they split in 2010.

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  • 1st gen: physicals were still a thing in general. Digitals didn’t dominate yet.

    3rd/4th gen: Kpop huge growth internationally

    2nd gen: neither

    But according to this theory physical sales should even even lower than 2nd gen because nobody even has CD players anymore and everything is digital

  • with first gen i feel like they could hit 1M sales easily because the only way you could listen to music was through cd’s and cassette tapes that were in the albums. this is why even old western acts (like the beates) have sold hundreds of millions of records.

    by the time second gen rolled around, social media and streaming sites were introduced. you had youtube and other platforms to listen to music. also, kpop was still a niche and not very popular worldwide.

    with third gen, kpop is at a massive scale worldwide. there’s fans in almost every corner so i’m not surprised to see even less popular groups these days outsell most second gen groups who were extremely popular in their prime.

  • But according to this theory physical sales should even even lower than 2nd gen because nobody even has CD players anymore and everything is digital

    It’s just a way for support... I once asked if million seller group fans actually listen to music through cds and 80% said yes... but I think they are lying lol

    Your average ggs enthusiast...

  • But according to this theory physical sales should even even lower than 2nd gen because nobody even has CD players anymore and everything is digital

    do u really think kpop fans buy albums for the cd? it’s for the photocards, stickers and other goodies in the albums. i’m not sure whether second gen groups were pulling the same random photocard tactic to boost sales like everyone else is doing now...

  • If you look at times when piracy was at its highest point, of course physical sales were lower than before.


    If sales are doing better today it's because 1/ the market grew and has now reach a global audience, and 2/ albums are no longer a mere CD in a jewel case but they're treated as some kind of collectibles, with mulitple versions and random goodies, designed to appeal to this newfound and devoted audience.

  • But according to this theory physical sales should even even lower than 2nd gen because nobody even has CD players anymore and everything is digital

    International kpop fans make up the difference. Buying physicals are part of the Kpop fan experience and international fans are brought into it without questioning it. It’s a fandom bubble thing. I might be wrong but I don’t think korean physicals sales grown since the 2nd gen and that’s probably because they don’t see Kpop as such a completely separate genre with it’s own rules like many international fans do.

  • with first gen i feel like they could hit 1M sales easily because the only way you could listen to music was through cd’s and cassette tapes that were in the albums. this is why even old western acts (like the beates) have sold hundreds of millions of records.

    by the time second gen rolled around, social media and streaming sites were introduced. you had youtube and other platforms to listen to music. also, kpop was still a niche and not very popular worldwide.

    with third gen, kpop is at a massive scale worldwide. there’s fans in almost every corner so i’m not surprised to see even less popular groups these days outsell most second gen groups who were extremely popular in their prime.

    Great answer. The rise of YouTube meant no one had to rush out and buy an album. They would just wait and buy it later which meant some fans never got around to doing.


    Now it seems like fans buy albums only as a way for bragging rights. And with the competitiveness between groups now bulk buying is at an all time high.

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  • International kpop fans make up the difference. Buying physicals are part of the Kpop fan experience and international fans are brought into it without questioning it. It’s a fandom bubble thing. I might be wrong but I don’t think korean physicals sales grown since the 2nd gen and that’s probably because they don’t see Kpop as such a completely separate genre with it’s own rules like many international fans do.

    It's not really western ifans but rabid Chinese fangirls who imagine they are 'feeding' their biases by bulk buying albums. It's a motherly thing

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