Group PLAVE has opened the ‘1 million virtual idol era’.

According to the statistics of domestic music site Hanteo Chart on the 10th, PLAVE sold a total of 1,038,308 copies of their third mini-album ‘Caligo Pt. 1’ as of the 9th, the first week of its release. With this, they have become the first virtual idol group to surpass 1 million initial sales (first week album release sales) and become a ‘million seller’.

1 million initial sales is a record that even popular groups find difficult to surpass, and is also considered an indicator of being the ‘top group’ on the K-pop stage. PLAVE, in particular, has become the first boy group album to sell over 1 million copies in its first week, going beyond being a simple virtual idol group to becoming a true ‘music and album powerhouse’.

Their record-breaking achievement was evident immediately after the release of their new album. All five tracklist members, including the title track ‘Dash’, ‘Liz’, ‘Chroma Drift’, ‘12:32’, and ‘Island’, ‘lined up’ at the top of real-time popularity charts on domestic music sites such as Melon, Bugs, and Naver Music.

Among them, ‘DASH’ soared to the top of Melon‘s ‘Top 100’ chart on the day of its release, beating out global stars like G-Dragon, Ive, and Espa. It is doing well, holding on to 6th place on the morning of the 10th, a week after its release. As some hit songs have achieved short-term success on Melon’s ‘Top 100’, which has been dominating the chart for a long time, some are responding that their music has also captured the general public‘s attention.

It seems that ‘K-pop composition’ was the secret behind PLAVE’s ability to break the initial prejudice that it was a ‘non-mainstream genre’ that only appealed to a hardcore fandom.

They have succeeded in attracting the existing K-pop fandom by not only releasing music, but also participating in ‘Challenges’ and holding fan signing events via video calls, just like regular K-pop groups. In addition, they are gradually increasing their contact with the public by revealing their comeback stages on music shows such as Mnet‘s ‘M Countdown’ and appearing on radio programs such as MBC FM4U’s ‘Idol Radio Season 4’.

As PLAVE writes new history, virtual idols ‘late entrants’ are also being actively produced. Following SM solo singer Navis and five-member boy group Ioniq, four-member girl group Aishia is scheduled to debut in the first half of the year. On the 10th, a music industry insider explained, “As virtual idol groups become well-known to the public, the number of participants in related auditions is increasing.”

Reporter Yoo Ji-hye yjh0304@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.