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EXO: At least they still have an American record. (Photo : Getty Images/Chung Sung-Jun)

EXOmadeheadlinesthisweekwhenitsalbumEXOdus gatheredthebestsalesweek,intheUnitedStates,ofany
KPopalbumever.Thegrandtotal?Justmorethan6,000copiessold.Okay,thatmightseemunderwhelmingafter
Does Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' Squad "Appropria
allthehype,butit'sjustanotherstepinthecontinuedgrowthofthepopgenreamongAmericanaudiences,asthe Exclusivity?" This Actress Thinks So!
previousrecordwasheldby2NE1andCrushwassetduring2014.Ifyouwanttoseesomemoreaweinspiring
numbers,checkoutthelistofthebestsellingalbumsinthehistoryofSouthKorea,KPop'shomeland.Keepin
mindthatthesesalescomefromanationof50.2millionpeople,comparedtotheUnitedStates,anationof319
3
millionresidents.

Here are the Top 7 selling albums in Korean history. Like Us on Facebook Like

07) We Hate All Kinds of Violence by H.O.T. (1.5 million copies sold)
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H.O.T. preceded the late '90s boy band craze of the United States by a few years, and unlike that craze, made
very clear what audience it was aiming at"H.O.T." is not a lame acronym spelling "hot" but is rather meant 4
to stand for "high-ve of teenagers." The group's rst two records were both huge sellers, with the
awkwardly-titled We Hate All Kinds Of Violence selling 1,500,000 copies during 1996 and then the following
Wolf and Sheep selling almost exactly as many copies during 1997 (making it the no. 8 bestselling album in
Korean history). H.O.T. can sympathize with Robin Thicke, as its success was plagued with accusations that
the group was recycling copyrighted material.
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06) Classic by Jo Sungmo (1.6 million copies sold)

Understand that even in Korea, one of the most successful music markets on Earth today, the diversity of 5
talent is nowhere near that of the United States or UK, or even Swedenthe three largest music industry
nations. That means not as many performers can gain fame in Korea, and those that do tend to dominate
the market. Understanding that, you'll be seeing a lot more of Jo Sungmo, a pop performer noted for his
balladic approach, during this list. Classic was actually a step down for the performer (despite being no. 6 all
time), marking a signicant drop o in sales from his last album. More on that later.
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05) Chapter 4: Road by g.o.d. (1.7 million copies sold)

Yes, the competition is so erce in the Korean music industry that even God himself can't get the no. 1 album.
We kid of course: "g.o.d." is a provocative acronym meant to stand for "groove over dose" (sic...it was their
idea to make "overdose" two words). This was the band's second album to crack the American version of
platinum status, but marked a decrease in sales from the band's previous release. Sales would continue to
drop for three more albums until the band split during 2006. Good news however: g.o.d. has since reunited
during 2014 (although its rst album back only sold 35,000 copies).

04) Chapter 3: Lies by g.o.d. (1.8 million copies sold)

Alright, so g.o.d.'s fall in sales from its third album to its fourth wasn't that dramatic. However the fall from
album four to album ve was reminiscent of the band's rise from Chapter 2 to Chapter 3. The band had
recently switched labels from EBM to SidusHQ and within a year it had gone from selling 580,000 copies of its
album to selling 1.8 million copies.

03) Let Me Love by Jo Sungmo (2.05 million copies sold)

We may have been slightly misleading you when we mentioned that Classic was a downgrade in sales for
ballad singer Sungmo. That was true...but he wasn't done yet. The vocalist released Classic during 2000 and
then turned right back around and released Let Me Love, which would sell even more copies, becoming just
the third album in South Korean music history to crack the 2 million copy sales mark. Can you guess who
might have been behind the other two?

02) For Your Soul by Jo Sungmo (2.1 million copies sold)

No, they weren't bothby Sungmo but you can bet that at least one was. For Your Soul was the vocalist's
superstar moment, when he went from being the guy with one album to being the one who would break a
million in sales every time he put out a record. His rst release, To Heaven, just broke a million in sales but
then he doubled it for For Your Soul, which became the second album in Korean history to crack 2 million in
sales. Although he would never again reach the numbers of For Your Soul, Sungmo would qualify for
American platinum status with his rst ve albums.

(Jo Sung Mo) - For Your Soul

01) Mis-Encounter by Kim Gun-mo (3.3 million copies sold)

Michael Jackson's Thriller is by far the bestselling album of all time, coming in at almost 50 percent higher
than its closest competition, Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon. The story is the same in Korea, where
Kim Gun-mo is more than 1.2 million copies more than the runner-up, in a market where only three albums
have ever broken 2 million in sales. That makes Mis-Encounter the only album in the nation's history to crack
3 million in sales, and 20 years after its release, it seems tough to imagine that any record will ever be able to
compete with the record. The closest he's ever come to matching that total was with his 2001 album Another
Days, which sold 1.4 million copies (making it the no. 9 bestselling album of all time). When you have a hit like
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