49.53 million K-pop albums sold in the first half of this year.. unprecedented boom [Star Issue]

*This content was translated by AI.

• Up more than 23.4% from the same period last year.. Expectation to surpass 100 million units

K-pop album sales in the first half of this year have shattered all-time records, ushering in an unprecedented boom.

According to a Big Data analysis by Hanteo Global (CEO Kwak Young-ho), which is connected in real time with over 5,000 distribution channels worldwide, K-pop album sales totaled 49.53 million units in the first half of 2026.

This figure not only surpasses the previous record for the highest semi-annual sales ever recorded in the first half of 2023 (46.17 million units), but also represents a surge of approximately 9.4 million units (23.4%) compared to the same period last year (40.12 million units).

This record proves that the K-pop album market has overcome its temporary stagnation and successfully achieved a complete structural improvement.

Until now, the K-pop album market had steadily climbed from 13.79 million units in 2017 to 18.57 million units in 2019, but when performances were halted due to the pandemic in 2020, pent-up demand surged into album purchases, reaching an unprecedented peak of 101.33 million units in 2023.

After the end of the pandemic, the market took a breather in 2024 (86.95 million units) and 2025 (86.24 million units), yet it has maintained a market size more than four times larger than that of 2019, just before the pandemic.

And finally, in the first half of 2026, even amidst adverse conditions where the global performance market was fully normalized, the market achieved its highest-ever semi-annual sales, proving through data that K-pop's fundamentals are more solid than ever.

This year's first-half record suggests that a "stable ecosystem structure" has taken root, driven not by the dominance of a single mega IP but by a diverse range of artists evenly propelling the market.

In the first half of this year, BTS's fifth full-length album 'ARIRANG', released after the group's full reunion following military discharge, served as the market's catalyst with initial sales (sales in the first week of release) of 4.16 million units.

However, even excluding that, the combined sales of 14 albums that achieved initial million-selling status reached approximately 22.6 million units, demonstrating strength approaching the peak boom period of the first half of 2023 (combined sales of 12 albums totaling 23.27 million units).

Especially, the market's midsection has become solid. In the first half of 2023, teams recording initial sales of over 4 million units were concentrated in just two groups: SEVENTEEN and Stray Kids. However, in the first half of 2026, the number of teams achieving initial million-selling status expanded from 12 to 14.

In addition to BTS, BLACKPINK, SEVENTEEN, ATEEZ, Tomorrow X Together, ENHYPEN, TREASURE, BOYNEXTDOOR, RIIZE, and ANTHEM TOURS PLAYB, numerous new groups such as NCT WISH (debuted February 2024), Curtis (debuted August 2025), and Alpha Drive One (debuted January 2026) have joined the ranks of million-sellers. ATEEZ, in particular, achieved two million-selling albums within the first half alone.

Examining Hanteo Chart's data flow over the past five years (2021–2025), the K-pop album market has consistently shown a clear pattern of higher sales in the second half compared to the first half each year, following an "up-low-down-high" trend.

With such an unprecedented foundation already established in this year's first half, if the same trend as previous years continues, there is a very high probability that the total annual sales for 2026 will surpass the all-time record of 101.33 million units set in 2023, setting a new historical maximum.

Hanteo Global Kwak Yeong-ho (CEO) stated, "The first-half 2026 data is evidence that K-pop has firmly established itself as a core infrastructure of the global music market, moving beyond a temporary trend. Going forward, we will continue to set the standard for Entertech by connecting global fandoms and industries based on our unparalleled Big Data technology."

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*This content was translated by AI.