Though the K-Pop music genre has become more popular in the U.S. over the past several years, it’s still a challenge for a lot of artists to make album sales in the country. It’s easier for those that have also signed with an American music label, but for those that haven’t and are from smaller companies, it’s hard to make a big impact in the foreign nation.
However, that hasn’t stopped one non-“Big Four” K-Pop group — that is, one that doesn’t belong to SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment, or HYBE Labels — from becoming one of the best-selling K-Pop artists in the U.S. in 2023 based on pure album sales!
ATEEZ | @ATEEZofficial/Twitter
That artist, of course, is ATEEZ, who debuted with small label KQ Entertainment back in 2018 with little more than their dreams, passion, and talent to break into the notoriously competitive K-Pop scene. They made about 530,000 sales in the U.S. last year, and since this is “pure” album sales, this is an accurate number of albums purchased physically or digitally.
With this number of albums sold, they’re the #4 best-selling K-Pop artist in the United States in 2023.
ATEEZ was the #4 best selling K-Pop act by pure album sales in the US in 2023 (530K; @ATEEZofficial). pic.twitter.com/yU1xMnoqLE
— chart data (@chartdata) January 31, 2024
The only artists they were surpassed by were Stray Kids (of JYP Entertainment), TXT, and SEVENTEEN (who are both with HYBE Labels). Additionally, the only other artists to rank in the top 10 most pure albums sold also belong to the “Big Four”: TWICE (JYP), ENHYPEN (HYBE), NewJeans (HYBE), Jungkook (HYBE), BTS (HYBE), and NCT 127 (SM).
Top 10 best-selling K-Pop artists in the U.S. in 2023 | u/mcfw31/Reddit
The 530,000 or so albums they sold in the U.S. in 2023 consist mostly of their albums sold last year — The World EP.2: OUTLAW and The World EP.FIN: WILL — but likely also include a fair number of their older albums being sold as well.
| @ATEEZofficial/Twitter
And since ATEEZ is one of three K-Pop artists (along with LE SSERAFIM and The Rose) that are set to headline Coachella this year, it won’t be any surprise to see their album sales skyrocket once more people are exposed to their incredible music and performance abilities!
ATINYs are sharing how proud they are of ATEEZ’s accomplishments on social media.
No USA label support, with just 2 albums, pure sales, the only group coming from a small company, Ateez you are big, really big.pic.twitter.com/oblb3i4fC4 https://t.co/S34uzjsNNJ
— fri ⅞ ³･｡｡•ateez coachella! (@paradiseyunho) January 31, 2024
IMAGINE IF THEY WERE SIGNED TO A US LABEL THAT WORKED FOR THEM AND DISTRIBUTED THEIR ALBUMS WELL…..MY ATEEZ https://t.co/QOKXcGp4Hk
— Seeba♡ TEEZCHELLA (@no1likeatz) January 31, 2024
Our small company miracle 🥹 https://t.co/sDqgA7p7aD
— Nina ↻ CHELLATEEZ (@ddeoyangie) January 31, 2024
MY ATEEZ! https://t.co/j1j5rZVMQO pic.twitter.com/WvGoBoN97h
— Allie/ (@AllieInNowhere) January 31, 2024
And people still wanna doubt that Ateez are one of the biggest Kpop groups in America. Pls be fr! They are huge here and the numbers clearly don’t lie. MY ATEEZ TOP 4 BABY WITH NO BIG COMPANY PRIVILEGES OR PAYOLA! https://t.co/wmgt3CB86J
— ateez no.1 BB 200 SEMI IA (@MINGISDOLL) January 31, 2024
Their achievement was also shared on a Reddit post, with commenters sharing similar sentiments!
We can’t wait to see what 2024 has in store for these well-deserving idols!
And they ranked high on the list!