Are girl groups buying back their albums?

The flood of girl groups this year might actually be doing some damage to the music industry (besides saturating the idol market). Netizens are raising suspicions over manipulated album sales statistics from three girl groups, and consequently, Hanteo – an album sales anaylst site – has become the center of hot attention.

Apparently, netizens spotted sudden spikes in album sales from the Brave Girls, Rainbow, and4minute, which caused some concerned discussions on various community boards as to whether companies were actually buying back their albums to create an ‘all-kill’ effect. Because the Korean music market isn’t as strong as it could be, it only takes a few thousand sales to achieve that much-coveted ‘all-kill’ title.

In effect, all it would take for an agency to bump their rookies to the next level is to spend a little extra money to help push false reports about ‘all-kill’ titles, and hopefully grab a music program trophy in the process.

But where did it all begin?

It all started with Brave Girls suddenly dominating charts overnight with over 4,000 in album sales. It’s a feat that they cleared barely a week into their debut, while senior girl groups with established fanbases like SISTAR and SECRET took much longer to achieve those same numbers.

Netizens have been watching as Rainbow followed with a sudden spike in sales. Soon after, 4minute recorded nearly 5,000 sales in just under two days to keep up with the others on the charts.

On Hanteo, a netizen wrote, “Because Brave Girls is buying back their own albums, Rainbow is now forced to keep up and have bought back their own albums in the second week of their promotions.  4minute is also competing for that #1 title so of course, they are starting to buy it back as well. Even if artists win #1 on charts, we need to keep it quiet to prevent this.”

Another netizen wrote, “What exactly are they going to do with all of the albums they bought back? Despite it being such a blatant case of buying back their own albums, they’re claiming it’s not. Now people are accusing f(x) of buying back because they’re the next girl group comeback.”

An anonymous industry representative said, “These days, album sales are an indication of a fandom’s strength. To rookies that have yet to establish a name or fanbase for themselves, it’s only natural that accusations of buying back albums will follow when they suddenly dominate album charts. It’s reality.”

Source: OSEN via Naver, Hanteo

Lee Joon, Hyosung, & Kikwang in a love triangle?

This week’s episode of KBS’s “100 Points out of 100” drew out an interesting relationship betweenB2ST’s Kikwang, SECRET’s Hyosung, and MBLAQ’s Lee Joon, who were speculated to be in a love triangle!

It all began when the cast started talking about getting hit on by fellow star friends. Lee Joon jokingly exclaimed, “A female idol came up to me and said that she had fun watching me on broadcast. She was none other than Jun Hyosung.”

The cast immediately turned to Hyosung and asked, “Are you really dating each other?”, to which Hyosung shook her hands no.

Kikwang, who had previously chosen Hyosung as his ideal woman, suddenly jumped up from his seat and shouted, “Jun Hyosung!” Hilariously, Hyosung replied back, “No, Kikwang! It’s not true!”

Cast members looked on at the amusing situation that developed before them and began asking, “Are they really in a love triangle?” Kikwang and Hyosung abruptly clarified, “No, we don’t even know each others’ numbers!”

Check out the full episode on April 23rd at 5:10 PM KST!

Source: TV Report via Nate

How are girl groups related to different nations?

On April 18th, a topic on an online community titled “Comparing girl groups’ nation” has garnered considerable attention. Inside the topic are pictures of SNSD, T-ara and other girl groups with a country’s flag next to them in relation to their situation.

This netizen started out by putting SNSD with the American flag, the reason being “the strongest in the world right now.” He continued to mention that “KARA could have rivaled SNSD at one point, but they had internal issues.” As a result, KARA is placed next to a picture of the Russian flag, since at one time America and Russia had the most power in the world.

Since Wonder Girls have expanded into oversea nations such as America, this netizen placed them next to a flag of the United Kingdom because it is “a country unbeaten by the ocean,” refering to Britain’s past oversea expansions and spreading english (hook song) to the world.

4minute is known for their sexy performances, and the group is placed next to Brazil for the famous Samba dance.

Due to problems in the past, T-ara has been placed next to the Japanese flag because Japan’s “problems in the past has not been acknowledged,” which drew laughter among netizens.

2NE1 is compared to China because “China is a developing nation that can rival America [SNSD].”

f(x) is compared to Canada because it is still economically dependant on America, miss A is compared to Spain because they are passionate and have a mix of different races, Brown Eyed Girls compared to France who has experienced the revolution at home and abroad (internally and externally) while SECRET is compared to Italy due to the big gap between rich (big boobs) and poor (small boobs).

Finally After School is next to the Indian flag because “India has the the greatest population and economical growth.”

After reading the descriptions, other netizens commented, “The person who made this is very smart”, and “Looking past the jokes, the comparisons are appropriate.”

Source: TV Daily via Nate, Indiafiber@6theory forums

SECRET makes a surprise visit to support fellow member, Ji Eun

In support of Ji Eun’s solo activities, the members of SECRET recently visited her waiting room backstage at KBS’s “Music Bank” to encourage her before she went on.

G.NA wins #1 in ‘Dosirak’ digital sales for the month of February

Music portal Dosirak has revealed that singer G.NA was the #1 best seller in digital sales for the month of February!

MBC to hold a charity concert with Fuji TV and Avex in Japan for 50th anniversary

Earlier this week, MBC’s “Show! Music Core” revealed that they were planning a special overseas concert in celebration of their 50th anniversary.  Further details were finalized today, and the project is a collaboration between MBC, Fuji TV, and Avex.

SECRET wins Music Bank K-Chart again + other

After a break in transmission due to the Lunar New Year holidays, Music Bank is back once again with a fun and exciting show filled with amazing performances!

Which girl group won #1 on music shows the fastest?

With dozens of girl groups debuting each year, the competition has gotten fiercer than ever in the idol market.  But which girl group came out on top and took home #1 the fastest?