The K-pop scene saw a flurry of new releases on June 9!
NCT’s Doyoung, ITZY, rookie group izna, QWER, and KISS OF LIFE all dropped highly anticipated albums. It has been a week since they dropped new music, and the numbers are in.
Doyoung made his first comeback after over a year with his second full-length album, Soar. ITZY released their 10th mini-album Girls Will Be Girls, KISS OF LIFE returned with their 4th mini-album 224, and izna dropped their debut single album, Beep. On the other hand, QWER dropped their 3rd EP In a million noises, I’ll be your harmony.
Here is a look at first-week sales for new releases from these talented K-pop acts.
NCT Doyoung’s 2nd Full Album ‘Soar’
Doyoung made his first return as a solo performer with the full album Soar, possibly his final comeback before impending military enlistment. Soar recorded 233,266 copies on its first day and 401,039 sales in its debut week. It was considerably higher than the first-week sales achieved by Doyoung with his debut album, YOUTH, which recorded 329,156 copies.
The 10-track album contains the title song Memory and b-sides like Just Friends, First Step, Sand Box, Sonnet, and more. Following the release of his album, Doyoung kicked off his Asia tour ‘Doors’ in Seoul last weekend.
ITZY’s 10th Mini-Album ‘Girls Will Be Girls’
ITZY’s 10th EP, Girls Will Be Girls, had a strong start, selling 148,810 copies on its first day. Sales remained high on days 2 and 3, with 112,901 and 88,742 copies sold, respectively. In the first week, Girls Will Be Girls sold 417,876 copies, their fifth-highest first-week sales. It is only surpassed by KILL MY DOUBT (823,742), CHESHIRE (633,248), CHECKMATE (472,394), and GOLD (438,713).
This new ITZY album contained five songs, including the title track of the same name, as well as Kiss & Tell, Promise, Walk, and Locked N Loaded.
izna’s 1st Single Album ‘Beep’
izna’s second physical album release didn’t quite live up to the hype, as sales numbers came in lower than their first album. Their 1st single album Beep sold 6,272 on the first day, and the numbers decreased drastically on the subsequent days. Overall, Beep recorded 6,583 copies in its debut week, much lower than debut album N/a (251,131).
It is the first single album released by izna and also contains the Japanese version of Beep.
KISS OF LIFE’s 2nd Mini-Album ‘224’
It was KISS OF LIFE’s first comeback after the controversy, so K-pop fans were expecting the sales not to be that high. Still, their sophomore mini album 224 did well and managed to sell 21,239 copies on the first day. It maintained the momentum on Day 2 (25,033) and Day 3 (15,659) and brought the total to 89,906. It is their second-highest first-week sales, only surpassed by the album “Lose Yourself” (91,922).
KISS OF LIFE’s 224 contains the lead single Lips Hips Kiss as well as b-side songs Tell Me, Think Twice, Slide, Heart of Gold, K Bye, and more.
QWER’ 3rd EP ‘In a million noises, I’ll be your harmony’
QWER is rapidly gaining popularity for their unique music. With their latest release, they broke their personal record and achieved the highest 1st-week sales. QWER’s third mini-album “In a million noises, I’ll be your harmony” sold 52,033 copies on debut day and a total of 79,294 copies in its first week. They surpassed the previous highest first-week sales record set by their album Algorithm’s Blossom (45,413).
Dear was the title track, and b-sides included Overdrive, Yours Sincerely, Be Happy, D-Day, and more.
