BLACKPINK Surpasses An 18-Year Record To Achieve The Best-Selling Female K-Pop Album In History

Since their debut in 2016, BLACKPINK has been breaking records left and right. Now, they’re adding a particularly impressive accolade to their long list of achievements. Breaking an 18-year record, BLACKPINK’s The Album has become the best-selling album by a female K-Pop artist in history.

The Album was released on October 2, 2020, but it became a sales sensation before it even hit shelves. The group’s first studio album surpassed over 800,000 pre-orders just six days after it was listed for sale and managed to sell over 1 million copies within weeks of release.

Of course, it wasn’t just a sensation in Korea. Debuting at no.2 on the Billboard 200 chart, The Album sold 110,000 units in its first week in the US, becoming the highest-charting female group album since Danity Kane released Welcome to the Dollhouse in 2008.

The Album‘s incredible sales quickly cemented it as the highest-selling girl group album in Gaon chart history, but there was one female solo act ahead of them: BoA.

All the way back in January 2003, BoA released her second Japanese studio album, Valenti. Within its first week of release, Valenti sold over 615,000 copies. It also spawned three hit singles which racked up hundreds of thousands of sales in their own right.

Over the years, Valenti‘s sales continued to rise, culminating at a total of 1.2 million copies sold so far. Surpassing BoA’s own Best of Soul album, which sold 1 million copies since 2005, Valenti held K-Pop’s top spot for the best-selling female album firmly.

That is, until now. It took 18 years, but BoA’s record has finally been surpassed. As of this month, BLACKPINK’s The Album has recorded 1.3 million sales in total, making it the no.1 best-selling album released by a female K-Pop act!