Here’s A Look At The 10 Best-Selling K-Pop Albums A Decade Ago… And How They Compare To Today’s
A decade ago, it was much less common for K-Pop albums to break even 100,000 total physical sales than it is now. In fact, the best-selling album from 2011 didn’t even make a third as many sales as the 10th best-selling album from the present day!
Still, it’s definitely worth recognizing which K-Pop albums were making the highest sales in their time, because reaching the multiple hundreds of thousands of sales was a huge achievement for any artist, and still is to this day!
Here are the best-selling K-Pop albums from the end of 2011 compared to the best-selling albums of today. For the 2011 albums, both the total sales at the end of that year as well as their total sales today are also listed!
2011
10. GD & TOP Vol.1 by GD & TOP
Released on December 24, 2010 with the title songs “High High”, “Oh Yeah”, and “Knockout”, this album sold 164.7k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 204.2k copies to date!
9. Run Devil Run by Girls’ Generation
Released on March 22, 2010 with the title song “Run Devil Run”, this album sold 169.0k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 418.0k copies to date (including sales for the original album, Oh!, that this is a re-release of)!
8. Hoot by Girls’ Generation
Released on October 27, 2010 with the title song “Hoot”, this album sold 180.8k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 192.4k copies to date!
7. Bonamana by Super Junior
Released on May 13, 2010 with the title song “Bonamana”, this album sold 203.2k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 332.1k copies to date!
6. Oh! by Girls’ Generation
Released on January 28, 2010 with the title song “Oh!”, this album sold 218.5k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 418.0k copies to date (including sales for the re-release, Run Devil Run)!
5. In Heaven by JYJ
Released on September 28, 2011 with the title song “In Heaven”, this album sold 220.4k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 350.0k copies to date!
4. Why? (Keep Your Head Down) by TVXQ!
Released on January 5, 2011 with the title song “Keep Your Head Down”, this album sold 263.4k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 327.1k copies to date!
3. The Beginning by JYJ
Released on October 14, 2010 with the title songs “Ayyy Girl” and “Empty”, this album sold 291.9k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 316.6k copies to date!
2. Mr. Simple by Super Junior
Released on August 3, 2011 with the title song “Mr. Simple”, this album sold 343.3k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 562.7k copies to date!
1. The Boys by Girls’ Generation
Released on October 19, 2011 with the title song “The Boys”, this album sold 385.3k copies by the end of 2011, and has sold 466.9k copies to date!
2021
10. The Album by BLACKPINK
Released on October 2, 2020 with the title song “Lovesick Girls”, this album has sold 1.33 million copies to date!
9. Heng:garae by SEVENTEEN
Released on June 22, 2020 with the title song “Left & Right”, this album has sold 1.41 million copies to date!
8. Don’t Mess Up My Tempo by EXO
Released on November 2, 2018 with the title song “Tempo”, this album has sold 1.45 million copies to date!
7. Resonance Pt. 1 by NCT
Released on October 12, 2020 with the title songs “Make A Wish (Birthday Song)” and “From Home”, this album has sold 1.47 million copies to date!
6. Love Yourself: Her by BTS
Released on September 18, 2017 with the title song “DNA”, this album has sold 2.37 million copies to date!
5. Love Yourself: Tear by BTS
Released on May 18, 2018 with the title song “Fake Love”, this album has sold 2.37 million copies to date!
4. BE by BTS
Released on November 20, 2020 with the title song “Life Goes On”, this album has sold 2.72 million copies to date!
3. Love Yourself: Answer by BTS
Released on August 24, 2018 with the title song “Idol”, this album has sold 2.74 million copies to date!
2. Map of the Soul: Persona by BTS
Released on April 12, 2019 with the title song “Boy With Luv”, this album has sold 3.94 million copies to date!
1. Map of the Soul: 7 by BTS
Released on February 21, 2020 with the title song “ON”, this album has sold 4.40 million copies to date!
