Everything you need to know about physical sales in K-Pop

It's normal to see people who are confused about some terms or about physical sales in K-Pop, such as pre-orders and the first week of sales, what are the official stores and the production process, for example what we will try to explain a little more in detail all this.

1. Pre-orders and its production

If there's one thing that fans are very confused about, it's about pre-orders. First of all, it must be specified that pre-orders are NOT official sales. Agencies need to know how much demand for the album is in order to know how many albums they are going to produce and ship to official stores.

Initially the agency produces a certain amount of albums for the beginning of the pre-orders. Example: Kakao M produces 50K copies for Ktown4u, so the store can make pre-orders available so fans can order the quantity they want. When those 50K copies are sold out, the store must order another certain number of copies from the production company. Note: Ktown4u has said that when an album is sold out, it's the same store that asks for restock, if they do not ask for restock the production company, in this case Kakao M, will NOT do the restock.

Pre-order reporting can help boost Gaon sales from stores: if stores see an album has a high sale rate prior to release they assume "this is going to be popular" so the store orders more. High sales during promotion (once the album has dropped) shows "wow this really is a hit".

The second thing you should know is that NOT all pre-orders count towards Hanteo sales, as many stores are not affiliated with Hanteo, so they won't count for this chart but they will count for Gaon. If it's reported that a certain album had a total of 1 million pre-orders it does not mean that those 1 million pre-orders will appear in Hanteo, it's possible that a little more than half will be counted, it will depend on where the fans have confirmed their orders.

We have to clarify that the reports in the k-media about the pre-orders will depend on the production agency. We have received many questions about how many pre-orders have had an album, but we cannot know that, the most common store in which we can see the amount of pre-orders/sales is in Ktown4u, the rest of the stores do not show the number of album sales or pre-orders.

What are the best known physical production companies?

• Dreamus
• YG PLUS
• Kakao Entertainment
• Genie Music
• NHN Bugs
• Sony Music Korea
• Warner Music Korea
• Universal Music Korea

What is true and what we have been seeing is that entertainment companies are the ones who ask production companies to reveal the amount of pre-orders. Generally, the pre-orders that are revealed are usually over 200K copies, especially for groups that are having an increase in popularity to achieve an increase in their sales, less than that amount is impossible to see that they are revealed. Also, distribution companies often do not disclose pre-sales if the new album did not exceed previous pre-orders.

Another thing you should know is that Oricon is NOT a store, it's practically the same as Hanteo, they have their own sales count in stores affiliated with Oricon in Japan, although there is a store in Japan that is affiliated with both Oricon and Hanteo, the which is Tower Records.

If you want to know more about how sales are in Oricon, you should review this article that we previously did.

2. Gaon and its sales/shipments

Well, once the production company knows how many albums to produce for the stores, they do the respective shipments to those stores. These shipments are the number of copies that are reflected in Gaon. Yes, Gaon does NOT count official physical sales, they count the number of albums that have been produced and shipped to all stores globally, regardless of whether they are small stores or not affiliated with other charts like Hanteo. This is the reason why the numbers in Gaon are very different from those of Hanteo, as well as there is a difference in numbers between the two charts.

Usually Gaon showed the Top 400 of the charts until September 2016, but this changed and they simply showed the Top 100. Despite this, since 2018 you could see the Top 200 even though Gaon said that they only showed the Top 100, but from April this year they fixed that, so now we can definitely only see the Top 100.

So why is Gaon the official physical sales chart in Korea when actually Hanteo is the one who reflects pure store sales? It's because, just like Billboard US counts the combination of physical and digital copies, the number of copies that are produced and shipped to stores can be a reflection of how many copies have been being sold in stores, especially those that are not officially affiliated with Hanteo. That is the reason why Gaon's numbers are counted as the artists' official sales in Korea above Hanteo.

Furthermore, Gaon is the replacement for what was previously MIAK (Music Industry Association of Korea), the official physical sales chart that reigned in Korea from 1998 to September 2008, even when Hanteo continued to exist during that time period.

3. Hanteo and its 1st day & week sales

This is the subject that many fans, especially new ones, are often confused about when their favorite artists release a new album.

As we have previously discussed, pre-orders are the number of copies in stock that official Hanteo affiliated stores around the world will have. Once the albums arrive at these stores, they are the ones who are in charge of making the direct shipments to the fans.

Sales on Hanteo are updated every 20 minutes, but at the minute 20 of every hour (example: 2:20 PM KST) is when there is usually the greatest increase in numbers.

4. Oricon sales of Korean Albums

Japan uses their own charting: Oricon. Oricon only counts sales made in Japan for Japan (in other words: no purchases that were shipped outside Japan will be counted). Purchasing Japanese albums will still count to overall album sales recorded by the entertainment company, but will not be reflected on the Oricon chart. In these cases, Billboard Japan is the one who counts the sales made by fans outside of Japan. No Japanese releases have sales on Hanteo but on Gaon depending on the Korean distribution companies (the foreign album chart was removed, so they are no longer reflected if they have few sales).

For Korean albums, sales in Japan come from a single store that is reflected in Hanteo, which is Tower Records. This store also usually opens pre-orders for Korean albums, and depending on demand the distribution companies will ship the albums to the store. Once the albums are on sale they will be reflected in both Hanteo and Oricon. Sales at other stores in Japan such as Amazon Japan, CDJapan, YesAsia, HMV or Recochoku will not count for Hanteo but will count for Oricon.

For Japanese releases, almost all Japanese singles or albums are released on Wednesdays, and there is a reason behind this. I'm going to use KARA's Mister as an example. The single was released on August 11 2010, but it actually hit the shelves on August 10. The Oricon data released on August 11 is actually a reflection of the sales of the single from Tuesday, August 10. Likewise, the Oricon data released on Thursday, August 12, reflects Wednesday's sale. The typical Oricon week for a new release looks like this: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then the sales from these six days are compiled into the weekly chart. For old releases (read: after first week of release), the weekly chart consists of sales from all seven days of the week. In order to achieve the highest sale possible on the weekly chart, artists usually release their work on Wednesdays.

At the end of the week, Oricon will put together the data from the daily rankings PLUS additional reported sales from retailers that only send in their data once a week. This is why there is usually a small boost in the weekly charts.

FAQs

At what time does Hanteo start counting sales?

Sales begin to be reflected from 10AM KST.

At what time does Hanteo finish counting sales?

Sales end the counting at 11:59PM KST, although obviously stores usually work until approximately 8PM or 9PM KST, which is why from that time there are not many changes in the numbers on Hanteo.

How is the 1st day of album sales counted?

Similarly, the 1st day of sales starts from 10AM KST until 11:59PM KST. Many people think that being the official release of the album at 6PM KST means that sales also start at that time, which they are wrong, since at that time is when the DIGITAL release is made on all streaming platforms, but this does not apply to sales. Of course, at 6PM KST is when the majority of copies are shipped to fans to prevent the songs from being leaked.

And yes, the 1st day of album sales is during 14 hours. There are many people who think that the 1st day of sales is from 6PM on the release day to 6PM KST the next day as it should be an exact 24 hours, but it really wouldn't be an exact 24 hours of sales either because from 12AM KST until 9AM KST neither Hanteo nor the stores work, so it would literally be 14 hours in case it was that way.

Another thing you should know is that during the weekends (Saturdays and Sundays) the sales will be even lower. This is normal since obviously not all stores work on weekends, so if you see a big decrease in sales on a certain day for artists that tend to have high sales, it's due to that reason. Other smaller or lesser known artists, including rookies, possibly sell fewer than 10 copies, even 1 copy or 0 copies.

Are pre-orders counted in the first day sales?

No. Not exactly all pre-orders are shipped on the 1st day, they usually have some shipping delays that will take place throughout the 1st week or even more. This will depend on some factors, such as pre-order cancellations, holidays or other factors that occur in the country.

Why does Ktown4u have a higher number than Hanteo?

The chart may change depending on how many payments have been made and how many orders have been cancelled, as well as shipping delays.

Does the number of versions of an album help to have more sales?

No, this does not affect sales. There are albums with 2 versions that sell much more than albums with 4 versions.

Does having more than 1 month of pre-order help to increase sales?

Not always, it depends on the artist. In general, most of pre-orders are made in the first 2 weeks, which is why there are some companies that usually have a 2-week pre-order period.

What is the difference between single album, mini album, full album, special album and compilation album?

• Single albums tend to have lower sales due to various factors, they can be overpriced or have so little content that fans prefer not to buy it but rather wait for an album with more content.
• Mini albums are more common, so sales may vary depending on a few factors.
• Full albums are the most anticipated by fans, that's why they tend to have even more sales than the previously mentioned albums.
• Special albums may have fewer or more sales than the previously mentioned albums, this will depend on the content of the album.
• Compilation albums will have less sales than those mentioned since they are not only usually more expensive but also contain the same songs previously released, so fans prefer not to buy it.

Are Korean albums eligible to be certified by RIAJ?

It depends on the distribution company. Sometimes Korean companies ship the albums directly to the stores in Japan, but in other cases the albums are distributed by Japanese distribution companies such as Sony Music Japan, Warner Music Japan, or Universal Music Japan.

What are the RIAJ Membership Companies to be certified?

• NIPPON COLUMBIA CO., LTD.
• JVCKENWOOD Victor Entertainment Corp.
• KING RECORD CO., LTD.
• TEICHIKU ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
• UNIVERSAL MUSIC LLC
• NIPPON CROWN Co., Ltd.
• TOKUMA JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.
• Sony Music Labels Inc.
• PONY CANYON INC.
• Warner Music Japan Inc.
• VAP Inc.
• BEING, INC.
• Avex Entertainment Inc.
• FORLIFE MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT, INC.
• YAMAHA MUSIC COMMUNICATIONS CO., LTD.
• DREAMUSIC Inc.
• YOSHIMOTO MUSIC CO., LTD.
• BANDAI NAMCO Arts Inc.

What are the official Hanteo affiliated stores?

Does buying my album on Amazon count on Hanteo?

No, neither Amazon nor eBay are Hanteo affiliated stores, so sales at these stores will count on Hanteo, but they will be reflected on Gaon.

5. A brief summary of the process already explained

So, with everything explained it's time to summarize what the process of a release is like.

1. The production and distribution company will make a number of albums for stores.
2. The stores will carry out pre-orders to know the demand for the album in their stores and if they should request more restock from the distribution company. This is what is reflected in Gaon Chart.
3. Once the album release begins, the official stores will officially begin shipping to fans, and fans will be able to continue shopping in stores. This is what is reflected in Hanteo Chart.

And this is all you need to know about the album production process and sales, as well as a summary of the differences between Hanteo and Gaon.