Credit: KS @ Allkpop
According to ‘Gaon‘ music chart, TVXQ is number 1 in terms of album sales for the first half of 2011. Their fifth album, ‘Keep Your Head Down,’ sold 230,922 copies between January 1st and June 30th to give them the overall top spot in sales.
The repackaged version of ‘Keep Your Head Down’ sold an additional 55,243 copies, landing the duo a complimentary spot at number nine as well.
Coming in second place was Big Bang’s fourth mini-album, ‘Tonight,’ with 133,951 copies sold.
B2ST placed third with their first full album ‘Fact and Fiction,’ which was released recently in May of 2011. The group has gained a tremendous amount of popularity recently and that’s reflected in the album sales as well with a total of 111,201 copies sold for the first half of 2011.
SS501’s Kim Hyun Joong’s first solo mini-album ‘Break Down‘ placed fourth with 100,433 in sales, the highest of all the solo singers.
Other notable artists include CNBLUE in fifth place, 2PM in seventh, and f(x) in eighth. The OST from drama ‘Secret Garden‘ ranked 10th.
‘Gaon’ is an on- and offline music sales chart that aggregates sales from the six main online music distributors Melon, Dosirak, Mnet, Bugs, Cyworld, and Soribada. Gaon is also a member of the Korea Music Content Industry Association.
‘Gaon’ stated, “There is no surprise that idol groups have the highest album sales for the first half of this year. Male groups with their fans’ support did especially well and left solo singers behind in sales.”