NewJeans, Seventeen dominate K-pop scene in 2023

In a year of K-pop where girl groups once again got the ears and boy bands the dollars, two bands emerged as champions unmatched by any other — NewJeans and Seventeen.

Boy band Seventeen, left, and girl group NewJeans [EACH AGENCY]

In a year of K-pop where girl groups once again got the ears and boy bands the dollars, two bands emerged as champions unmatched by any other — NewJeans and Seventeen.

NewJeans's "Ditto" (2022) and "Hype boy" (2022) were the two most-streamed and downloaded songs of 2023 according to data compiled by local sales tracker Circle Chart, from Jan. 1 to Dec. 23.

The girl group landed four songs on the top 10 of the list of 200 digital song chart of 2023 in Korea: "Ditto" on No. 1, "Hype boy" on No. 2, "OMG" on No. 4 and "Attention" (2022) on No. 8.

Four songs also landed on the top 10 list of digital song chart globally: "OMG" on No. 1, "Ditto" on No. 2, "Super Shy" on No. 5 and "Hype boy" on No. 6.

NewJeans's second EP "Get Up" sold 1.6 million copies since its release in July, the 18th highest number out of the 100 best-selling albums of 2023. The girl group sold a total of 4.4 million copies of all of its albums this year, the highest for any K-pop girl group, according to its agency ADOR.

Girl group NewJeans [ADOR]

Boy band Seventeen [PLEDIS ENTERTAINMENT]

Seventeen, which also belongs to the same HYBE umbrella as NewJeans, was the best-selling artist of K-pop, when it came to albums.

The band's 10th EP "FML" sold 5.5 million copies since its release in April, the highest not only this year but highest ever by any K-pop artist. The band's 11th EP "Seventeenth Heaven" was the No. 3 best-selling album with 4.8 million copies sold since October.

Year-end charts typically show girl groups' songs score high when it comes to streams, but boy bands champion album sales figures due to their differences in the target audience.

Girl groups cater to a larger audience of listeners, while boy bands aim for a smaller pool of dedicated fan clubs who willingly open up their wallets for their stars.

Boy band Stray Kids [JYP ENTERTAINMENT]

Girl group IVE [STARSHIP ENTERTAINMENT]

This year, only two out of 20 most-streamed and downloaded songs were by male acts. Girl groups NewJeans, IVE, (G)-DLE, Le Sserafim and aespa scored high on the digital songs chart, while only ballad singer Parc Jae-jung and BSS, a subunit of boy band Seventeen, landed on the chart.

Only five albums by female acts — aespa, IVE, Twice and NewJeans — were named on the top 20 list of most-sold albums of 2023. Boy bands Seventeen, Stray Kids, NCT Dream, Tomorrow X Together, ZeroBaseOne and Enhypen were the best-selling artists this year, along with members Jungkook and V of boy band BTS.

Find out more about NewJeans and Seventeen at Celeb Confirmed

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