“Struggling” Boy Group Sees 1,470% Surge In First Day Album Sales 

In 2023, a new survival show, Peak Time, attracted attention for its intriguing premise.

The show’s goal was to provide opportunities to groups that the pandemic had severely impacted, had experienced long breaks or frequent member changes, had disbanded or recently debuted, and would like a boost of attention by showcasing their skills.

While many of the groups had not yet debuted, there were also several who were already active in the industry, including boy group BAE173.

BAE173 debuted in November 2020, featuring a line-up of eight members, including Hangyul and Dohyon, who were part of the brief Produce X 101 group X1. The group ultimately finished in fifth place with PeakTime, releasing two new songs during the process.

After PeakTime, the group released New Chapter: Luceat in March 2024, before every single member was announced to be competing in two survival shows, Starlight Boys and Project 7. While on Project 7, member J-Min stated that, although they received more attention, it wasn’t a significant difference, and that they’d continue to make survival show appearances to showcase their skills.

The shows ended in December 2024, and, following complaints from fans to the company, the group finally made a comeback on October 14, with the digital release of their first full album, New Chapter: Desear. 

New Chapter: Desear was not physically released until October 23 and has already yielded some surprising results. On its first day of sales, 31,486 copies were reported as sold, according to the Hanteo Chart.

Compared to their previous release, which sold 2,018 in its first day, the group saw a 1470% increase. In addition to this, the group have sold more than half of the full week sales for the previous album in just a day, and will very likely surpass their last record.

Congrats to BAE173 on their achievements so far!