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)
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