2023 has been an eventful year in K-Pop, especially for girl groups. Many newer groups solidified their position at the top this year despite having debuted only a brief while ago. Acts like LE SSERAFIM, IVE, NewJeans, and aespa have dominated the charts, while groups like Red Velvet, TWICE, and BLACKPINK have maintained their steady hold in the public’s heart with their unprecedented achievements. However, only one girl group was able to make it to the top 10 of the best-selling artists of all time, according to data gathered by Hanteo.
Hanteo, Korea’s leading real-time sales-based music chart, recently released their year-end data of the highest-selling artists of all time. Surprisingly, the top end of the list mainly included K-Pop boy groups, and IVE was the only girl group among them.
IVE | @ivestarship/Instagram
IVE ranked at the 10th position on the list, with 5,484,834 album sales throughout their career. Notably, the group is only two years old, having debuted in December 2021. They achieved this honorable position with a relatively brief discography comprising three singles, “Eleven,” “Love Dive,” and “After Like,” followed by two EPs, Wave and I’ve Mine, and a studio album, I’ve IVE.
IVE beat the iconic third-generation girl group TWICE by over 100,000 units, who ranked at 11 with 5,368,983 total albums sold on Hanteo. Some other girl groups who ranked in the top 20 include aespa (12), NewJeans (16), BLACKPINK (19), and ITZY (20).
The other nine artists who filled the top 10 positions are as follows:
9. ATEEZ
ATEEZ’s all-time sales totaled 7,044,415 units.
8. ENHYPEN
ENHYPEN has sold 7,554,860 albums so far.
7. NCT 127
NCT 127 has recorded 9,664,164 album sales.
6. TXT
TXT have secured an impressive 9,765,494 album sales since their debut.
5. EXO
EXO ranked 5th on the list with a total of 11,435,678 sales, proving their longevity.
4. NCT Dream
With 13,481,508 sales, NCT Dream is the fourth highest-selling artist.
3. Stray Kids
Since their debut, Stray Kids have sold 16,068,410 albums.
2. BTS
Despite their current hiatus, BTS bagged second place with 25,246,576 accumulated album sales.
1. SEVENTEEN
SEVENTEEN became the highest-selling artist of all time, with 25,848,348 sales since their debut!
