Since K-Pop's global breakthrough, the popularity of the colorful music genre has skyrocketed. At first, only a few K-Pop groups made it onto the charts outside of Asia: mainly BTS and Blackpink. Today, though, the genre is no longer a rarity on the global charts. In fact, K-Pop is ranking very high on the US charts this year!
Last night, Luminate announced which albums and songs were the most successful in the US over the past six months. Luminate is a company that collects data which, among other things, is taken into account by the Billboard Charts.
Luminate's midyear charts cover many different categories, such as best-selling LP albums, most-streamed songs or best-selling albums. The latter is especially interesting for K-Pop fans, because six of the albums on this list come from South Korea!
2023's Midyear Top 10 Selling Albums in U.S. (Physical and digital album sales combined)
The list is led by Taylor Swift’s album “Midnights”, but the next three spots go to TXT, Stray Kids and Twice! Seventeen, Agust D and Jimin also made it into the top 10:
- 1. Taylor Swift - Midnights (607,000)
- 2. TXT - The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION (399,000)
- 3. Stray Kids - 5-STAR (327,000)
- 4. TWICE - Ready to Be (286,000)
- 5. Morgan Wallen - One Thing at a Time (242,000)
- 6. SEVENTEEN - SEVENTEEN 10th Mini Album: FML (236,000)
- 7. Metallica - 72 Seasons (215,000)
- 8. Agust D - D-Day (200,000)
- 9. Jimin - FACE (152,000)
- 10. Melanie Martinez - Portals (194,000)
Twice are the only female K-Pop stars on the list. After BTS and Blackpink, the girl group was one of the first to make it onto the American charts, and it continues to stay at the top!
With Agust D and Jimin, BTS is still represented as well. Although the group is currently taking a break to complete their military service, the individual members are defending their places on the charts. Not only Jimin's album, but also one of his songs conquered the Luminate charts: "Like Crazy" is at number 2 on the best-selling digital songs, right behind "Flowers" by Miley Cyrus!
Which albums did you get this year?
Sources: Billboard
