NewJean's album sales halved amidst HYBE and Min Hee-jin controversy

Girl group NewJeans's album initial sales (album sales in the first week after release, hereinafter based on Hanteo Chart) were halved compared to their previous album. There were some predictions that this time, it would succeed in achieving a ‘million seller’ based on initial sales alone, but as a result, sales volume decreased noticeably.

According to what Edaily confirmed with Hanteo Chart on the 4th, the initial sales volume of the single ‘How Sweet’ released by New Jeans on the 24th of last month was 884,717 copies. This is a decrease of approximately 46.3% compared to the initial sales of 1,650,181 copies of the previous mini album ‘Get Up’ released in July of last year.

‘How Sweet’ is a single containing the new songs ‘How Sweet’ and ‘Bubble Gum’, as well as instrumental version tracks of two songs. Since this single was released amidst a management dispute between New Jeans' agency Adore CEO Min Hee-jin and HYBE, interest in its performance was even higher both inside and outside the industry.

‘How Sweet’ sold more than 810,000 copies on the first day of release, so it seemed possible to achieve a ‘million seller’. However, daily sales plummeted from the second day, with only about 70,000 additional copies sold during the remaining initial counting period. Cumulative sales as of the 3rd are 891,179 copies.

It appears that the K-pop album market has not been able to avoid the impact of a slowdown in its growth. While NewJeans was on hiatus without releasing a new album, other groups already experienced a situation where their album sales decreased compared to their previous albums and they failed to achieve a ‘career high’. In particular, a sharp decline in sales was evident at the end of last year and early this year. Regarding this, there was an analysis in the industry that the decrease in numbers was the result of accumulated fatigue among fans due to the heated competition for initial sales volume that continued for several years.

Fortunately, the K-pop album market was recently receiving a warm welcome, with monthly album sales in April (based on the Korea Music Contents Association) reaching 12.93 million units, surpassing the 10 million mark for the first time this year. Among the teams that are considered representative of the 4th generation girl group along with New Jeans, IVE helped create a buzz by achieving initial sales of 1.31 million copies with the mini album ‘IVE SWITCH’ released on April 29.

aespa, another 4th generation girl group representative, also succeeded in becoming a million-seller by selling 1.15 million copies with its full-length album ‘Armageddon’ released on the 27th of last month. Both IVE and aespa are teams that once recorded initial sales of 1.6 million and 1.69 million copies, respectively. Although the power of the album was somewhat lower compared to the ‘career high’ performance, both teams showed their potential by successfully achieving 1 million units in the first week.

Among these, the initial sales of NewJeans' new album were only 880,000 units, and some are concerned that the collapse of the fandom in the aftermath of the prolonged management dispute may have contributed to the decline in album sales. An official from the music industry said, “The HYBE internal dispute, which turned into a muddy fight, may have weakened the fandom’s unity, but since the music market is going through a transition period, it is difficult to pinpoint the cause of the decline in sales.” He added, “We need to watch the cumulative sales trend more closely.” he said.

NewJeans is continuing its popularity, ranking 2nd and 3rd on major charts such as Melon, Bugs, and Flo with ‘How Sweet’ and ‘Bubble Gum’. On the 21st, their debut single ‘Supernatural’ will be released in Japan