These Were The Top Ten Best-Selling K-Pop Albums Of 2020

The year is starting to come to a close, so it’s a great time to look back at 2020 and reflect on some of the best K-Pop of the year.

There have been so many amazing albums released in the year, and several of them made record sales for their respective artists, as well as for the K-Pop industry as a whole! Here are the top 10 best-selling K-Pop albums of 2020.

10. Skool Luv Affair (Special Addition) by BTS

Released on May 14, 2014, Skool Luv Affair (Special Addition) made a huge comeback this year when BigHit Entertainment re-released the album now that BTS has become so huge! It’s a repackaged version of their Skool Luv Affair album, with the title track “Boy in Luv”, and includes 18 tracks along with two DVDs with memorable moments from BTS’s showcase. In 2020, it sold 669k copies!

9. Reload by NCT Dream

Reload is the fourth EP from NCT Dream, released on April 29 this year. With the title track “Ridin'”, this album is the group’s last one as a six-member unit as they have now ended the age-based graduation system that determined their members. This album helped NCT Dream top Billboard‘s Emerging Artists chart for the first time, and sold a total of 671k copies in 2020.

8. Neo Zone by NCT 127

Neo Zone was released on March 6 of this year, and is NCT 127’s second full-length studio album. With the title song “Kick It”, this album became the group’s first to enter the top five in the Billboard 200 chart, and also their first album to win multi-platinum certifications from KMCA (Korea Music Content Association). In total, it has sold 875k copies since its release.

7. Delight by Baekhyun

Baekhyun’s album is the only solo artist album to have made it into the top ten best-selling albums this year! Released on May 25, it’s the EXO member’s second EP with the title song “Candy” and came in four different versions: Cinnamon, Honey, Mint, and Chemistry. It ranked at #5 on Billboard’s World Albums Chart, which is now his second album to do so. It also became the first K-Pop solo artist album in 19 years to reach over one million sales, with just over 1 million copies sold!

6. ; [Semicolon] by SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN’s sales have skyrocketed this last year! ; [Semicolon] is their 10th EP, released on October 19 of this year with the title song “Home;Run”. It debuted at #1 on Gaon‘s Album Chart the week that it was released, and also reached #2 on the Japanese Oricon Albums Chart as well. In total this year, this album has made about 1.1 million sales, which also gave them their biggest amount pre-orders ever!

5. The Album by BLACKPINK

BLACKPINK’s much-awaited first full-length album didn’t disappoint, both in terms of its music as well as its sales. Released on October 2 this year with the title track “Lovesick Girls”, the album was even more hyped up by the pre-releases “How You Like That” and “Ice Cream” (with Selena Gomez) that came out earlier in the year. Debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200 chart, making The Album the highest-charting all-girl group on the list since 2008. It has sold 1.2 million copies to date!

4. Heng:garae by SEVENTEEN

Though ; [Semicolon] had more pre-orders overall, Heng:garae is still SEVENTEEN’s best-selling album to date. With the title song “Left & Right”, it was released on June 22 this year and is the group’s 7th EP. It reached the top of Gaon’s Album Chart as well, and until now has sold about 1.4 million copies, making it their first album to receive a million certification from KMCA.

3. NCT RESONANCE Pt.1 by NCT

NCT RESONANCE Pt.1, released on October 12 this year, is the first half of NCT’s second full-length studio album, with NCT RESONANCE Pt. 2 the second half released later in the year on November 23. It contains the two title tracks “Make a Wish (Birthday Song)” and “From Home”, and features all 23 members of the group, including new members Shotaro and Sungchan. It was their first chart-topper on Gaon’s Album Chart, and also their first album to sell over 1 million copies without a repackage. In total, it has sold 1.45 million units to date!

2. BE by BTS

BE is BTS’s most recent album, released on November 20 this year. It’s their 9th studio album with the title song “Life Goes On”, with a lot of its inspiration coming from the members’ feelings living through the ongoing pandemic. It was their 5th album to debut at #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, which made them the fastest group to have five chart-topping albums since The Beatles. Additionally, it also made BTS the only artist besides Taylor Swift to debut on the Billboard 200 and Billboard’s Hot 100 charts simultaneously! To date, it has sold 2.6 million copies.

1. Map of the Soul: 7 by BTS

This first place album shouldn’t surprise anyone! BTS made waves with their Map of the Soul: 7 album, breaking so many records that the list would be too long to include them all here! It was released on February 21 with the title song “ON”, and has been said by BTS to be a “deeply personal” album for the members about their journey and growth since their debut. It is still the best-selling album in the history of South Korea, and has sold 4.3 million copies to date, making BTS the only artist to achieve a “quadruple million” certification by Gaon. It also gave BTS the title of best-selling artist in South Korea of all time, with 20.3 million albums at the time of its release.