With girl groups overwhelmingly owning the K-Pop industry right now with the success of fourth generation artists like IVE, NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, and (G)I-DLE, some fans have been waiting for boy groups to have a resurgence in their popularity too. 2023 saw the debut of boy groups from some major labels as well as highly anticipated ones from smaller labels, including ZEROBASEONE, RIIZE, and BOYNEXTDOOR, among others.
In terms of album sales, these rookie boy groups have been performing pretty well, with some making impressive records already in their careers. This has made fans hopeful that boy groups will start to chart again soon! Here’s a look at the first-week sales of K-Pop boy groups that debuted in 2023, along with some impressions from netizens.
1. ZEROBASEONE
ZEROBASEONE’s first album, Youth in the Shade, sold a total of 1.82 million copies in the first week (with 1.24 million first-day sales) while their second album, Melting Point, sold 2.13 million copies in its first week (with 1.46 million first-day sales).
2. RIIZE
RIIZE has only sold one album, Get A Guitar, so far, and it made 1.02 million sales in its first week, with 178k sales on the first day. It’s best day of sales was actually the second day, when it sold over 310k copies.
3. BOYNEXTDOOR
BOYNEXTDOOR has released two albums so far — Who! and Why.., which made 110k first-week sales and 449k first-week sales respectively. Who! had first-day sales at 33.9k while Why.. skyrocketed with 302k first-day sales.
4. xikers
Xikers has also released two albums so far. Their first album, House of Tricky: Doorbell Ringing, sold 103k copies in its first week (with 22.0k first-day sales), while their second album, House of Tricky: How to Play, sold 205k copies (with 60.4k first-day sales).
5. PLAVE
Virtual boy group PLAVE has released one post-debut album, Asterum, so far, and it made an impressive 203k sales in its first week! It made 63.4k first-day sales, but the second day was its best-selling with 91.9k units sold.
6. FANTASY BOYS
FANTASY BOYS has also released one album, New Tomorrow, so far in their career (at least that has been calculated for this list — they did release a second album, Potential, in November 2023, which has a reported 23.6k sales). New Tomorrow made 130k sales in its first week, with 52.3k first-day sales.
Here’s what netizens have to say about these sales numbers.
It will be interesting to see how these and other boy groups perform going into 2024 and beyond!
Source: Instiz and Pann Choa
