HYBE artists make up 40% of K-pop albums sold in first half of 2023

Forty percent of all K-pop albums sold during the first half of 2023 were by six acts from HYBE — BTS's Jimin, Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together, Enhypen, Le Sserafim and NewJeans. From January to June this year, K-pop artists sold 55 million ...

Boy band Seventeen [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

Forty percent of all K-pop albums sold during the first half of 2023 were by six acts from HYBE — BTS's Jimin, Seventeen, Tomorrow X Together, Enhypen, Le Sserafim and NewJeans.

From January to June this year, K-pop artists sold 55 million copies, according to music sales tracker Circle Chart. Of these, 40.4 percent, or 22 million, were sold by six of HYBE's artists, the K-pop company said.

The six teams are each signed to individual music labels that are owned by HYBE. Jimin's band BTS and Tomorrow X Together are managed by BigHit Music, Seventeen by Pledis Entertainment, Enhypen by Belift Lab, Le Sserafim by Source Music and NewJeans by ADOR.

Seventeen made the biggest mark, selling 8.9 million albums during the same period. That number included sales from its 2023 album "FML" as well as past albums.

Girl groups stood out in terms of online streams and downloads, with five out of the top 10 most popular digital songs by NewJeans and Le Sserafim.

NewJeans' hits "Ditto" (2022), "OMG" and "Hype boy" (2022) were the three most-streamed and downloaded songs in the first half of 2023, according to Circle Chart. The band's debut track "Attention" (2022) was the seventh most-streamed and downloaded song, and Les Sserafim's "Antifragile" (2022) was No. 9.

HYBE attributed its success to its multi-label system, in which it buys smaller K-pop agencies and lets them pursue their own music style with the backing of a larger system.

"The excellent result comes from the power of HYBE's multi-label strategy," the company said in a press release.

"HYBE allows the absolute independence of a label's work to guarantee the birth of super content. This has allowed our labels BigHit Music, Pledis Entertainment, Belift Lab, Source Music, ADOR and KOZ Entertainment to fulfill their creative potential and provide high-quality music to K-pop fans." To find out more about HYBE and its artists, visit https://celebconfirmed.com/

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]