Now that we’ve seen the main SEVENTEEN subunits release music, I’ve been thinking about how their performance compares to the group itself.
2023, SEVENTEEN sold an insane number of albums. FML hit around 6M, Seventeenth Heaven passed 5M, and that’s not even counting their older releases and re-releases that added even more to those numbers.
What surprises me is that despite this, none of their subunit releases have crossed 1M sales. Given how massive SEVENTEEN’s fandom is, plus the strength of individual member fanbases and C-bars, I honestly expected at least one subunit to hit that milestone by now
I’m not saying 500k+ is bad at all, it’s huge. I just expected millions from a group that can sell 5M+.
For comparison, only Baekhyun, G-Dragon, and BTS members currently have solo albums past 1M, with Jungkook’s Golden leading the pack at around 3M followed by V at 2.8M. So it makes me wonder if SEVENTEEN’s fandom is just more OT13 focused. Fans clearly spend big on the group, but that doesn’t seem to translate the same way to individual members or subunits.
The Korean charting side is what really gets me, though. BSS’s “Fighting” was a genuine hit, reaching 5 on the Circle Digital Chart and #16 on the 2023 year-end chart, but no other subunit has come close to that kind of digital impact.
And with enlistments now underway, do you think fans are mostly holding back their money and attention, saving up for the big comeback once everyone’s back from service?
I’d love to hear from CARATs, but also fans of other groups who’ve noticed a similar gap between group and solo/subunit sales. What’s the reasoning there?
submitted by /u/Far_Memory1539
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