Well, as long as I am posting the movie charts, maybe I should try doing the music charts, too. Fortunately, the Music Industry Association of Korea only publishes this information once a month.

Unfortunately, music charts are not what they once were. Especially in Korea. In 2005, physical music sales (of CDs and cassettes) made up just 113.8 billion won (around $118.5 million). Digital sales (mobile phone ringtones, Internet subscription services, etc.) came to a hearty 248 billion won ($258 million). Impressed? Digital music in Korea is nearly 2.5 times bigger than “regular” music sales (regular to old people like me who like to have something to hold).

This trend is just going to continue, too. Physical music sales once was around 400 billion won a year (416 billion won in 1996). Most people in the industry will tell you that piracy and file sharing destroyed sales. I would tell you that stale, uncreative, juvenile product had at least as much influence, but what do I know? Anyhow, the important thing is that, thanks to the Internet and mobile phones, Koreans are spending more money than ever on music. I read an industry analysis once, made by a local securities company, that predicted the digital music market will top $1 billion by 2010.

Anyhow, I babble. On with the charts. First up – Korean albums sales for August:

This Month Artist Album Name Release Date This Month’s Sales Total Sales
1. Shinhwa Vol. 8 – State of the Art (Special Edition) 5.10 40,440 201,892
2. Psy Vol. 4 7.24 22,926 38,375
3. SG Wannabe Vol 3 – The Third Masterpieces 4.07 19,968 276,773
4. Yoon Do Hyun Band Vol. 7 – Why Be? 8.10 18,041 18,041
5. Big Bang We Belong Together (single) 8.28 17,159 17,159
6. Turtles Vol. 4 7.20 15,554 29,833
7. See Ya Vol. 1 2.24 13,996 78,887
8. Super Junior Vol. 1 – U 6.03 12,097 65,127
9. Park Jung-ah Vol. 1 – Yeah 8.25 10,544 10,544
10. Cherry Filter Vol. 4 – Peace N’ Rock N’ Roll 8.17 9,432 9,432

(source: MIAK)

Foreign pop chart to come soon (when I am in the mood). Since the top-selling foreign acts usually would not make the Korean top-10, I will post them separately. FYI, at the moment, Korean music makes up about 62% of the CD market, with foreign music around 23% and classical around 15%.

UPDATE:

Okay, here is the foreign chart:

This Month Artist Album Name Release Date This Month’s Sales Total Sales
1. Christina Aguilera Back to Basics 8.14 11,514 11,514
2. Dong Bang Sin Gi Sky (Japanese edition) 8.25 10,852 10,852
3. Various Mammo Mia OST 6.04 7,370 25,633
4. Jo Sumi With Love: Best of Jo Sumi 8.25 7,000 7,000
5. Arashi Aojorapedal 8.02 6,451 6,451
6. Various Club Hip Hop 8.10 3,143 3,143
7. Sweetbox Best of 1995-2005 4.21 2,390 86,946
8. Various Diamonds 8.24 2,319 2,319
9. Outkast Idlewild 8.22 1,980 1,980
10. Paris Hilton Paris 8.22 1,785 1,785

(source: MIAK)