The album is a million seller, and the music source is in the 90s… 5th generation idols Myeong and Am

A 5th generation K-pop group with a different starting line has been unveiled. Boy groups such as Rise and Zero Base One, who emerged during the golden age of K-pop, quickly became million-sellers by selling over 1 million copies of their debut album. However, along with concerns that “the gap between fandom and popularity has become wider,” there is advice that they must become self-sustaining in competition with 3rd and 4th generation K-pop groups that are still alive and well.

The K-pop market has entered its fifth generation after about 30 years. After HOT·SES (1st generation), TVXQ/Big Bang (2nd generation), BTS (3rd generation), and NCT·Stray Kids (4th generation), Rise, Zero Base One, etc. have recently taken over the baton.

They are considered the biggest beneficiaries of the expanded K-pop market. The number of pre-orders for the debut single ‘Get A Guitar’ by SM Entertainment’s youngest member Rise, who debuted on the 4th, is 1.03 million copies. Zero Base One’s (small photo) first mini-album ‘YOUTH IN THE SHADE’, which debuted in July, sold a total of over 1.82 million copies in the first week of release.

The reason for the recent surge in album sales by singers can be found in changes in the strategies of K-pop agencies, market expansion, and fandom competition. Agencies make their first move after already building a solid fandom before debut. Rise had ‘Kang Soo’ who recruited Shotaro and Seongchan, who were active as members of the group NCT. As a result, a significant number of NCT fandoms naturally flowed into Rise. Zero Base One, formed through Mnet’s ‘Boys Planet’, received votes from viewers in 184 countries during the audition process, forming a global fandom. In addition, the fan base has also become more diverse, consisting of Koreans (6 people), Chinese (2 people), and Canadians (1 person).

The Initial Chodong (album sales volume in the first week of release) record has become a competition for pride among the fandom. Fans are willing to open their wallets for the records of ‘Oppas’. Randomly inserting photo cards of each member into the album is also a strategy to increase album sales. And this record is widely covered at the time of debut and becomes a means of promoting them. Typically, when 1 million albums are sold, sales of over 15 billion won are generated. In this respect, album sales can be said to be the size of the fandom and the foundation for growing the size of the K-pop industry.

However, there are concerns that ‘album sales inflation’ will lead to cutthroat competition. This is because album sales, which are a measure of fandom firepower, are not proportional to public awareness. The Melon chart rankings of Rise’s new song ‘Get a Guitar’ and Zero Base One’s new song ‘In Bloom’ (as of the 8th) are 90th and 93rd, respectively. This means that it is difficult to say that it is “receiving popular support.”

The 3rd and 4th generation groups created fertile soil for 5th generation groups to quickly take root, raising the status of K-pop by appropriately combining fandom and popularity. Currently, songs by BTS, Seventeen, (G)I-DLE, Aespa, and ITZY are on Melon’s Top 30. Ultimately, this means that in order for 5th generation groups to be able to survive in competition with senior K-pop groups, they should not only pursue album sales based on fandom.

Park Ki-soo, a professor in the Department of Cultural Contents at Hanyang University, said, “The rapid increase in album sales can be seen as ‘fandom excess.’ “We are aiming for a kind of bandwagon effect that if fans like it, the public will also like it, but there is a gap between fandom and popularity in that it is not supported by the music performance, which is a ‘reflection of the market,’” he said. “In the end, the answer must be found in the market.” He said, “It is difficult to maintain the vitality of a mainly mania fandom for a long time, so we need a strategy to balance the public’s expectations.”

Reporter Jinyong Ahn realyong@munhwa.com