KPOP Meaning
Album sales in Korea come in two kinds. Circle Chart's album chart counts wholesale shipments of CDs, LPs, kits and platform albums minus returns. Hanteo Chart counts copies sold directly by its partner stores in real time and leaves out proxy sales. The same album can therefore show different totals: BTS's ARIRANG logged 4,224,016 copies on Circle Chart for the first half of 2026 and 4,169,464 in its first week on Hanteo. Circle also counts each format separately even when the tracklist is identical.
Usage
When quoting a sales number, say whether it is Circle (shipments) or Hanteo (store sales), and first-week or cumulative.
Examples
- ARIRANG — 4,224,016 copies on Circle Chart for the first half of 2026 versus 4,169,464 first-week copies on Hanteo.
- Circle's album chart counts shipments minus returns; Hanteo counts sales at partner stores.
In context
Sources
- Circle Chart FAQ: how rankings are compiled
What we checked
Circle Chart FAQ: how rankings are compiled
- Hanteo Chart: real-time album chart
What we checked
Hanteo Chart: real-time album chart
- Hanteo Chart: notices
What we checked
Hanteo Chart: notices
- Newsis: Circle Chart first-half 2026 review
What we checked
Newsis: Circle Chart first-half 2026 review
- Hanteo Chart Hall of Fame: first-week sales
What we checked
Hanteo Chart Hall of Fame: first-week sales