This year, SM Entertainment achieved remarkable success with aespa’s “Supernova,” which ranked #1 on music charts for 99 days. JYP Entertainment’s DAY6 dominated the charts consecutively, and HYBE, with its multiple labels, saw success across various groups like 10-year veteran SEVENTEEN. Meanwhile, what has happened to YG Entertainment, considered one of the Big 4 entertainment companies? The answer is simple: “Nothing to show for.”
With only two months remaining in the year, YG Entertainment stands alone among major entertainment companies in failing to produce either a hit song or album. At this rate, 2024 will be remembered as a year of “complete failure” for the company.
According to Circle Chart, 38 songs made it into the monthly top 10 until September. When including the weekly top 5 charts for the first four weeks of October, the number increases to 43. The other three companies—SM, JYP, and HYBE—each had at least one monthly #1 song, with 6, 5, and 8 songs respectively in the top 10. Together, they accounted for approximately 50% of monthly top 10 hits, maintaining a strong presence this year.
Looking at the details, the #1 songs from January to September included Taeyeon’s “To. X,” IU’s “Love Wins All,” BIBI’s “Bam Yang Gang,” ILLIT’s “Magnetic,” ZICO’s “SPOT!,” aespa’s “Supernova” (June-August), and DAY6’s “HAPPY.” Additionally, artists from the three companies, including NewJeans, LE SSERAFIM, RIIZE, and TWS, frequently appeared in the top 10.
Among YG artists, BABYMONSTER achieved the highest ranking at #12 on the May monthly chart. However, this falls far behind rookie girl group ILLIT (#1 in April, #2 in May), boy group TWS (#3 in February, #2 in March, #3 in April), and even smaller agency debuts like Kiss of Life (#4 in August) and QWER (#5 in May). It’s difficult to argue that YG artists generated more buzz.
In terms of album sales, which indicate fandom size, BABYMONSTER performs relatively better among rookie girl groups. Their first mini-album, BABYMONS7ER, released last April, sold around 400,000 copies in its first week. However, this is not significantly ahead of competitors, as it’s similar to ILLIT’s debut album SUPER REAL ME (approximately 380,000 copies).
Considering Yang Hyun-suk’s confidence as chief producer and the pre-debut promotional buzz, BABYMONSTER has fallen far short of expectations in terms of digital performance, album sales, and public interest combined.
While their digital performance is notably poor, their album sales are even more dismal. YG is the only major entertainment company without a million-selling album.
Artists with albums selling over a million copies this year include boy groups like SEVENTEEN, Stray Kids, NCT DREAM, ENHYPEN, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ATEEZ, ZEROBASEONE, and RIIZE, as well as girl groups like IVE, TWICE, aespa, (G)I-DLE, LE SSERAFIM, and NewJeans. These artists come from both major and smaller companies, but notably absent are any YG artists.
Among YG artists, TREASURE achieved million-seller status with their second full album REBOOT last year, but they haven’t released an album in over a year since then. While they had relatively frequent releases before their second full album, the pace has slowed since Yang Hyun-suk’s return as chief producer. Their digital single “KING KONG,” released last May, only peaked at #713 on Melon’s daily chart.
More concerning than the lack of achievement this year is the limited potential for significant improvement. TREASURE, YG’s representative boy group, not only lags far behind competitor groups but also has fewer album releases. They haven’t successfully developed multiple new artists either. The fact that BLACKPINK, who only maintains group activities since the members have left the agency, is still one of their main revenue sources speaks volumes about YG’s current situation.
Against this backdrop, BABYMONSTER released their first full album DRIP on November 1st. This represents YG’s last chance to show any achievement this year, after focusing solely on BABYMONSTER since late last year. Unfortunately, both ambitious double title tracks have yet to enter the daily top 100 on the Melon Chart.
Source: Daum
