Leading digital singles in South Korea 2023
In 2023, the song "Ditto" by rookie K-pop girl group NewJeans was the leading digital single on the Circle Digital Chart. The Circle Digital Chart is the industry standard chart used in the South Korean music industry for singles. "Ditto" scored a total of over 786 million points on the Circle index, with their song "Hype Boy" coming in second. NewJeans alongside fellow girl group IVE dominated the single’s charts that year with four and three entries, respectively.
Impactful girl group debuts
Although NewJeans only debuted in 2022 and IVE debuted in 2021, both girl groups have experienced early successes and gained a lot of popularity. NewJeans's total album sales exceeded four million copies in the domestic market, while IVE’s album sales reached 3.8 million copies as of 2023. Both groups have received numerous awards, indicating a growing interest from fans and from the general public. In 2023, NewJeans also set a record as the fastest K-pop act to reach one billion streams on streaming platform Spotify. Other popular girl groups with high album sales include aespa and TWICE.
K-pop boy bands in the spotlight
Despite the dominance of female groups in digital charts, male groups led in physical album sales. In 2023, Seventeen sold over 5.5 million copies of their album “FML.” Alongside Seventeen, other notable male K-pop groups with the high album sales include Stray Kids and TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT). Globally recognized boy group BTS sold nine million albums in 2020 alone. The group's album sales were lower in 2023, reflecting those of its earlier releases, as the individual members focused on solo releases or mandatory military service that year.
