Aespa’s mini album sold over one million copies

Aespa’s second mini album, ‘Girls,’ sold over 1.426 million copies in the first week after its release on July 8, breaking a new first-week sales record of over one million copies for the first time as a girl group. The group garnered much admiration for selling the dream figure. What about Aespa made this possible?

First, their fandom expanded to female fans. Female fans have stronger unity than their male counterparts, which is favorable to reaching high first-week sales. Aespa earned female fans’ hearts with the group’s bold lyrics and a female warrior concept. SM Entertainment applied the SM music performance concept (SMP) to Aespa’s debut song ‘Black Mamba,’ as well as ‘Next Level’ and ‘Savage.’ The SMP features a dark melody, socially critical lyrics, and strong vocal, which was showcased by the company’s boy groups, including H.O.T., TVXQ, and EXO. “Previous girl groups, including Sistar, KARA, and Girls' Generation, emphasized their cute and sexy style. Aespa has a completely different style. Even their song is titled ‘Savage.’ Fourth-generation girl groups, which include Aespa and ITZY, will continue their girl crush concept,” pop music critic Kim Do-heon said.

Aespa’s popularity among overseas fans also contributed to the team’s million-seller record. As the group performed at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, the biggest pop music festival in North America, it became more recognized in the U.S. The groups’ Chinese member Ningning also helps the group earn more popularity among Chinese fans. Sales from China accounted for over 670,000 copies in the album’s first-week sales, which is about half of the total.

Some say that SM Entertainment’s strategy of focusing on creating a ‘universe’ as seen in the cases of EXO and NCT worked. Aespa is considered to have the strongest universe among the groups of SM Entertainment. “Aespa is the girl group to open the overall SM universe called the SM Culture Universe (SMCU),” said SM Entertainment’s executive producer Lee Soo-man. Fans find attractive Aespa’s universe of real-life members and virtual members communicating and growing together in the digital world. “As interest grows in cultural content, which encompasses not only music but also game, songs, dance, and unique universe, more fans are enjoying Aespa’s albums,” said Kim.


Jae-Hee Kim jetti@donga.com