Before I start this is NOT targeted at any specific group or artist but a general trend I’ve noticed in the past 3-4 years. I’ve recently felt like k pop group sales have gotten on average so high they’re no longer impressive and, in my opinion, no longer are accurate representations of their popularity. And this goes for both groups I stan and those I don’t, as well as groups dominating the industry and those that are mid size. I feel like especially in the past year or so somehow so many records, especially debut records, have been broken by such large margins yet these groups fail to meet the popularity scale the previous record holders have held. Either they don’t sell as well in their subsequent comebacks or their songs don’t chart/ get streamed / are iconic or recognizable (both internationally AND locally) to the proportions I’d expect them to be because of these sales. And the main reason I made this post is because it seems that now the “criteria” for a mid size group in terms of sales is close to being 100k and OVER, sometimes this being expected as first week or first day sales and I don’t know I just can’t wrap my head around how SO many groups MEET that yet they struggle to chart locally / internationally and other numbers would point to them being truthfully lower when it comes to actual fandom size. And furthermore if a group deemed popular sells 300k or less first day they’re now considered “flops” or losing popularity. I want to make it clear this is NOT to downplay accomplishments, 100k is an incredible number but I just find it so unbelievable and a standard that will inevitably get so much higher. To be considered “leaders” it’s expected to sell 1 million first day or preorder, you could sell 400k and still be considered “nugu”. I haven’t been a k pop stan for long, especially to experience 1st-3rd gen in its full but I looked up some of the TOP and I mean like household name groups’ sales, and they are comparable / on par to groups considered to be “nugu” (exaggerated) and mid size in modern standards. So again HOW and WHY do fans put so much effort in sales yet struggle to at least inflate some other numbers? I 100% understand that k pop becoming so globally accesible, overconsumption and collection has a play in, in fact it’s probably the sole reason for it, but it still just seems so ridiculous to me and I personally think furthers my point that sales no longer mean shit. How am I supposed to be impressed at 1 million sales when there were 50 versions and 1 photo card per version? like no duh. Idk if I were an idol and i saw my album sold 300k first week yet we’re struggling to have streaming, YouTube, award and fan numbers I’d be pretty bummed out. I guess to close it out, whenever I see album sales I kinda raise my eyebrow and go “huh” and scroll. I don’t want to be suspicious especially when sometimes it’s my own favorite artists but I feel like these numbers are still something so many k pop fans put so much weight to, especially in fan wars, when I’m over here even questioning the numbers of some of my favorite groups. Anyways what do you guys think? submitted by /u/nuluvbo [link] [comments]
