[FACTCHECK] How did Seventeen sell 4.55 million CDs?

When boy band Seventeen's 10th EP "FML" dropped on April 24, anyone interested K-pop knew it was going to see high CD sales. Since debuting in 2015, Seventeen had been one of the biggest names in the K-pop scene and has been showing consistent ...

Boy band Seventeen [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

When boy band Seventeen's 10th EP "FML" dropped on April 24, anyone interested K-pop knew it was going to see high CD sales. Since debuting in 2015, Seventeen had been one of the biggest names in the K-pop scene and has been showing consistent growth over the years. But the outcome exceeded expectations, selling a whopping 4.55 million copies in the first week. Among the total sales, 3.99 million were sold on the very first day.

"FML" replaced the top spot of Korea's highest first-week CD sales — also known as chodong – breaking the record set by BTS's "Map of the Soul : 7" which had been reigning No. 1 since it dropped in February 2020 and sold over 3.37 million copies. Chodong is an important indicator of popularity in the K-pop industry, as it indicates the size of a loyal fandom willing to buy CDs immediately upon release.

The EP brought Seventeen its career-high ranking on the Billboard 200 albums chart, entering at No. 2 on May 9. Tracks are also ranking high on domestic music streaming charts, most notably lead track "Super," which peaked at No. 3 on Melon Chart's Top 100, showing that the band is receiving attention from the general Korean public as well.

How did Seventeen do it?

BY HALEY YANG [yang.hyunjoo@joongang.co.kr]