Absolutely shocking how poor sales were for December. I thought that Korea usually gets a Christmas bump, but it certainly did not this year. The top-selling album, the latest SM Entertainment holiday release, sold just 33,453 copies. The tenth-place album, Park Sang-min’s latest, sold just 11,000 (last month, tenth place sold 20,000).
Foreign music sales were also pretty bad, although they were actually up a little from November.
Still no work on 2006 overall sales yet, but you can bet they are going to be pretty depressing. On the other hand, the advance word I am getting about digital sales (online downloads, mobile phone music, etc.) is pretty incredible. Last year, mobile and downloads were (officially) about $267 million, versus $118 million for CD and cassette sales. I say officially, because the math behind the numbers if pretty murky, with no one group responsible for all the rights or collecting all the money. Unofficially, that number could have been well over $400 million. And there are rumors that 2006 might have experienced another huge leap. I will write about those numbers as soon as I hear more.
| This Month | Artist | Album Name | Release Date | This Month’s Sales | Total Sales |
| 1. | Various | SM Town 10 | 12.12 | 33,453 | 33,453 |
| 2. | SG Wannabe | The Precious History | 11.16 | 33,426 | 78,548 |
| 3. | Big Bang | Vol. 1 | 12.21 | 33,343 | 33,343 |
| 4. | Lee Seung-chul | Reflection of Sound | 9.27 | 26,017 | 86,593 |
| 5. | Rain | Vol. 4 – I’m Coming | 10.13 | 20,995 | 106,110 |
| 6. | Dong Bang Shin Gi | Vol. 3 – O-Union | 9.28 | 20,046 | 349,317 |
| 7. | Brian | The Brian | 12.18 | 15,376 | 15,376 |
| 8. | Bobby Kim | Vol. 2 | 12.11 | 13,723 | 13,723 |
| 9. | Sung Shi-gyung | Vol. 5 | 10.10 | 11,912 | 94,328 |
| 10. | Park Sang-min | Vol 11 | 12.01 | 11,008 | 11,008 |
(source: MIAK)
Foreign Sales:
| This Month | Artist | Album Name | Release Date | This Month’s Sales | Total Sales |
| 1. | Il Divo | Siempre | 12.01 | 7,233 | 7,233 |
| 2. | Richard Yongjae O’Neil | Lachrymae | 9.07 | 6,498 | 19,454 |
| 3. | Various | Love and Memory | 12.07 | 5,471 | 5,471 |
| 4. | The Beatles | Love | 11.21 | 5,081 | 9,126 |
| 5. | Westlife | The Love Album | 11.20 | 4,629 | 10,216 |
| 6. | Various | Step Up (OST) | 10.24 | 4,407 | 4,761 |
| 7. | Shin Youngok | Love Duets | 12.05 | 3,845 | 3,845 |
| 8. | Jo Sumi | With Love | 8.25 | 3,418 | 19,055 |
| 9. | Various | Wine: Music & Story | 10.19 | 3,404 | 5,410 |
| 10. | Kenny G | The Most Romantic Melodies | 11.20 | 3,237 | 6,698 |
(source: MIAK)
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