Enhypen, Itzy, Baekhyun, Seventeen And NCT Score New Album Certifications In Korea
SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – APRIL 26: ENHYPEN attends the showcase for ENHYPEN’s new album ‘BORDER : … [+]
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Once a month, the Gaon Music Chart company reveals a new slate of singles and albums that have earned special certifications in South Korea, which means they have moved a certain number of units in the country. This is common practice in many nations around the world, but the thresholds necessary to earn any award are harder to reach for many in the Asian country, and thus there are usually only a handful of winners every round.
This month, seven albums and EPs have been honored with prizes from the organization, which announces certifications after data is tabulated by the Korea Music Contents Association, and they come from many of the biggest names in that country’s music industry.
Two titles collect million certifications, which remains a very rare showing. Since the company began properly tracking and handing out certifications just a few years ago, only a little more than a dozen projects have been able to earn this status, and it is reserved for only those projects which actually sell at least one million copies. Both Seventeen’s An Ode and BAEKHYUN’s latest solo EP Bambi snag this prestigious prize. It’s the first such win for the solo musician, while Seventeen has now collected a trio of million certifications, making them one of the most successful acts in South Korean history in this regard.
ENHYPEN’s recent smash success EP Border: Carnival opens at double platinum status, which is somewhat shocking, as it was only released back in late April. Albums and short sets need to sell 250,000 copies in order to be named platinum, and double platinum awards come after exactly half a million units (or more) have been purchased.This latest honor takes ENHYPEN to a new level, as their debut EP Border: Day One has thus far only been named a platinum project.
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Four more titles rank as platinum releases now, and amazingly, three of them were released in 2021. The only effort to come out before this calendar year, NCT’s NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2 Kit (the kit separates it from the original release, which has already been certified), is still less than a year old. Joining that effort in the spotlight are very recent projects from the likes of ASTRO (All Yours), Kang Daniel (Yellow) and ITZY (Guess Who).
Both NCT and Kang Daniel have now seen four releases go at least platinum, while ASTRO and ITZY score their first-ever certifications in their home country this month.
