The IFPI top 20 shows just how far K-pop has come in establishing itself as one of the world's most popular musical genres
Blackpink, the biggest girl band on the planet, does not feature in IFPI's ranking of the best-selling albums of 2023.
Image: Adek Berry / AFP©
In just a few years, K-pop has become an international musical phenomenon. Such is the enthusiasm for this South Korean musical genre that almost all the records in the chart of best-selling albums for 2023 are K-pop albums.
In detail, 19 of the world's 20 best-selling albums last year (physical and digital sales) belong to the K-pop genre. Taylor Swift's fourth re-recorded album, "1989 (Taylor's Version)," is the only outlier in the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI), global album sales chart for 2023, taking sixth place.