2022 isn't quite over yet, but it's not far off! Do you feel like taking a look back at the past months with us? Once again, countless new albums were released, both from experienced K-Pop artists and from new ones who only debuted this year.
We wondered which albums from 2022 sold best! Are you curious too? Then you've come to the right place! We took a look at the list of best-selling albums in South Korea, which includes every album that has sold one million copies or more in South Korea.
Which albums made it onto the list this year? Which artist is on it for the first time? Which albums even sold over two million copies? We answer these and other questions here!
- Albums from 2022 that sold more than one million copies.
- Which artists have passed the 1 million mark most often?
- Which albums have the highest sales figures?
- Nolae’s Favorites
Albums from 2022 that sold more than one million copies.
Between one and two million copies were sold of these albums:
As you can see, only a dozen albums reached this milestone this year. Even for artists who regularly top the charts, it isn't easy to sell that many copies. Several of the groups that made the list this year are on it for the first time, even though they have already been successful on stage for a few years. This applies, for example, to Ateez, Twice, ITZY or aespa.
What stands out most is probably that IVE is on the list, since the girl group only debuted in December 2021. No other group has reached this milestone as quickly after their debut as they have!
Jin also stands out with his solo album “The Astronaut”. The album was only released on October 28, but it has already made it onto the list. No solo album has ever reached the one million mark this quickly!
And even fewer albums from 2022 have broken the two million mark:
- BTS - Proof
- Seventeen - Face the Sun
- Stray Kids - Maxident
- Blackpink - Born Pink
- NCT Dream - Glitch Mode
Even though only five albums from this year made it this far, that's actually more than in previous years! In 2021 there were only four (BTS, NCT 127, NCT Dream & Seventeen), and from 2020 back to 2017 there were only one or two albums each year, all by BTS.
“BTS - Love Yourself: Her” was, by the way, the first album in many years to sell more than two million copies in 2017. Before that, the last entry was the album “Let Me Love” by the singer Jo Sung Mo from the year 2000! The fact that only BTS albums made it onto the list in the following years as well once again clearly shows the incredible success of the boy group.
The same goes for the one million mark: in 2016, BTS were the first in 15 years to make it onto the list of albums that sold more than one million copies. Before them, the last time it happened was in 2001, with the album “Chapter 4” by the 1st generation boy group g.o.d.
Which artists have passed the 1 million mark most often?
After taking a look specifically at 2022 first, let's now look at which artists have made it onto the list of best-selling albums most often over the years! (As of now: November 2022)
We're looking at the period from 2016 until today here, so we're leaving out the entries from 2001 and earlier.
First place clearly goes to BTS with 11 albums! Seventeen follows in second place with seven albums. Third place is shared by the two NCT sub-units NCT Dream and NCT 127 with four albums each. From there on, everyone is close together:
- 3 albums: NCT (group albums), Stray Kids & TXT
- 2 albums: Blackpink, Enhypen, EXO & Baekhyun (EXO)
- 1 album: Twice, ATEEZ, aespa, ITZY, IVE, Lim Young Woong & Jin
Which albums have the highest sales figures?
As you now know, there are by now quite a few albums that have sold more than two million copies. “Over two million” is rather vague though, isn't it? So let's take a slightly closer look at the numbers:
The best-selling album in South Korea is currently “BTS - Map of the Soul: 7”: 5,002,919 copies were sold in South Korea! The second best-selling album is “BTS - Map of the Soul: Persona” (2019) with 4.5 million copies sold, followed by “BTS - BE” (2020) with 3.7 million copies sold.
The best-selling album of 2022 is “BTS - Proof” with 3.3 million copies sold. It is currently in fourth place among the best-selling albums. In fact, the first eight places are all taken by BTS!
Places 9 and 10 are held by older albums: “Wrongful Encounter” by Kim Gun Mo (1995) with 2.86 million albums sold & “When Love Passes By” by Lee Moon Sae (1987) with 2.85 million albums sold. Place 11 is currently held by an album from 2022: “Face the Sun” by Seventeen with 2.82 million albums sold!
As you can see, albums from 2022 also rank very high on the overall list.
Nolae’s Favorites
Many of the best-selling albums on this list probably also have a firm place among the personal favorites of many fans. And of course we have also listened to some of these albums on repeat! But of course there are so many more masterpieces released this year that thrilled us.
To wrap up, we'd like to introduce you to our favorites. They were our personal highlights this year!
Kep1er - DOUBLAST
The second album by the young girl group Kep1er is definitely one of our favorite summer albums this year! The B-side “Le Voya9e” is our favorite track.
Dreamcatcher - Apocalypse: Save Us
We've definitely flipped through the album countless times because the pictures are so beautiful. We especially liked the hologram postcard set from the Limited Version!
The Boyz - Be Aware
The title song “Whisper” is a real earworm that keeps coming back!
Enhypen - Dimension: Answer
The album came out right at the beginning of the year, but has stayed on our favorites list until today! It's a repackage of Dimension: Dilemma, so besides new tracks like the title song “Blessed-Cursed”, it also contains the previous hit “Tamed-Dashed”!
Le sserafim - Fearless
We eagerly awaited Le sserafim's debut album and weren't disappointed! We can't decide whether we like the title song “Fearless” or the B-side “Blue Flame” better.
Did one of our favorites make it into your collection too? Which albums did you buy this year? Tell us!
