My Everything 23,394 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 If you're new to the K-Pop world or at least keeping up with today's current K-Pop news, you may have seen the word 'Sajaegi' flying around here and there. 'Sajaegi' is the term used for when companies purchase their own artists albums in order to increase sales and boost their chances at winning music programs. Unfair, right? But, it has been done! Whether it is true or not, there have been many artists accused of this 'Sajaegi' method over the years and the ones involved may just surprise you! Check out the list and see who were accused of manipulating their way to the top. Laboum Recently, many netizens are in a tizzy due to the fact that rookie girl group LABOUM's latest track "Hwi Hwi" won over veteran singer IU and Oh hyuk's collab song. While it does seem a bit peculiar on the surface, KBS spoke up about the matter regarding their latest win saying, "The ranking every Friday is decided by the sum of all the data from the week before" and confirmed that LABOUM's data was not problematic. 'Music Bank's #1 is decided by 65% digital sales, 5% album sales, 20% broadcast points, and 10% viewer votes. LABOUM was able to win over IU by beating her on album sales." Teen Top Believe it or not, boy group TEEN TOP had been accused of 'Sajaegi' on more than one occasion. It became a huge issue in 2014 when TEEN TOP and their agency, TOP Media, filed a lawsuit against 4 netizens deemed responsible for starting and spreading the accusations of chart manipulation in October 2014. Their agency TOP Media confirmed to Star News, "We filed a lawsuit against 4 individuals who spread false rumors about album sajaegi when 'TEEN TOP 20'S LOVE ONE EXITO' was released in September for defamation of character... The police found the people and went into investigation... Among them, there are those in their teens and twenties... Afterward, we held a personal meeting with these individuals and most of them said they were reflecting on their actions and pleaded for mercy... We are currently deciding on whether to show leniency." Sistar No one at Starship Entertainment is safe. Unfortunately, SISTAR became a target of 'Sajaegi' accusations back in 2014-15. Sadly, it was mainly targeted at Soyu's solo "Some" featuring Junggigo due to the fact that it was already peaking over groups such as 2NE1, Girls' Generation and even PSY's "Gangnam Style" during its early release. One hilarious fan revealed their suspicions stating, "Why is every song that SISTAR features always charting so high on Melon? Does it make sense that the steaming number of Some is twice bigger than Gangnam Style and Cherry Blossom Ending? In midnight, Some's steaming number was 1st among 40 to 50 year-old audience, why would ahjuhssi's and ahjuhmma's listen to Some when they're supposed to be sleeping?" BTS Probably one of the biggest issues of 2015 (and in the history of the boy group) was surrounding BTS as they were accused of 'Sajaegi' after beating top Korean boy group BIG BANG in album sales. While at the time it was completely shocking to find out, it is true that they surpassed BIG BANG during the Summer of 2015. Many speculations included theories and factors to prove the boys' innocence such as, according to Hanteo Chart, that offline sales are entered into the system all at once manually. Also, sales from Japan have been slowly integrated into these figures. It is expected that groups with large quantities of offline sales will often experience such a spike. BTS also gained popularity and proved their worth through various awards such as "Bonsang" at the Seoul Gayo Awards and the "World Rookie Award" at the Gaon Charts Awards, which wouldn't make it much of a shock that they had high album sales. Since then, all the talk of 'Sajaegi' has basically disappeared as BTS is now consistently at the top of album sales. IOI With huge popularity comes even bigger responsibilities. Due to their incredible popularity and chart-topping songs, IOI were naturally accused of 'Sajaegi' - which isn't shocking to come across at some point. The group definitely gave veteran groups such as AOA a run for their money and even went head to head with top groups such as TWICE and Black Pink on more than one occasion. Their huge increase in sales, especially since they were an experimental group, had fans speculating that their company was playing a big part in reeling in the attention. However, these rumors seemed to become overshadowed by the fact that even though their sales and votes were higher than Black Pink, the girls of IOI did not receive the 'Rookie Award' of the year from MelOn during 2016. B1A4 2014 was the year of 'Sajaegi.' Boy group B1A4 also had fingers pointed at them regarding their 2nd album 'Who Am I' sales and accused of manipulating the charts. Many netizens started these allegations due to the odd increase of album sales during the end of their promotional period. Netizens speculated that from the 14th to the 19th (during the time of their promotional period), the boys had sold a total of 67,186 albums, which the accusers stated are not a realistic number for B1A4 when comparing it to their past album sale records and the album sales of bigger groups. Thus, the number of core fans could not have tripled since their last comeback as B1A4's previous album sold 22,000 in a week, while their new one sold 67,000 in a week. Although B1A4 fans argued that it is due to the new album having different covers and fans buying multiple covers, the accusers said that their numbers are still not realistic when compared to big groups who have released multiple covers of albums. Block B Block B have become a popular name due to the rising fame of rapper Zico and their latest hits. Before that, the boy group seemed to be stuck in a nowhere land with only their controversy regarding Zico's words back in 2012 gaining any attention. The boys were accused of 'Sajaegi' due to their shocking rise in the charts over a short period of time. The progression from their "Freeze" promotion (which ranked at 70th place) to when they released "Nanrina" in 2012 (which peaked at 11th place) is a shocking difference. Since then, the noise of 'Sajaegi' has all been dispelled as they have become a more popular group. BONUS: Girls' Generation's Sunny On a 2015 episode of JTBC's 'Serial Shopping Family' Girls' Generation's Sunny was jokingly accused by the MCs of 'Sajaegi' due to her hilarious story after revealing she purchased 30 of their group's album during the release. Sunny explained, "A lot of people around me ask for a signed CD. My dad is residing in the middle east, and he told me that the K-Pop wave there is no joke. However, if I ask the company to give me [copies], they give me exactly ten. I purchase these with my own money," making everyone laugh. Source Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
양 지 10,015 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 A lot of people misuse the word but then there are cases where it really is used correctly but since everyone has already gotten so used to the "sagaeji scandals" and defending artists, they default to the view that "people are just hating and the award was totally fully justified". I won't say anything more than this lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smile Hoya 5,780 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Probably one of the biggest issues of 2015 (and in the history of the boy group) was surrounding BTS as they were accused of 'Sajaegi' after beating top Korean boy group BIG BANG in album sales. While at the time it was completely shocking to find out, it is true that they surpassed BIG BANG during the Summer of 2015.​ I am so salty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loonatrash 2,441 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 It's not even surprising anymore if a group is accused of sajaegi just because they beated groups from the big 3 or very popular artists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaroonedInMumbai 3,918 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 It's not even surprising anymore if a group is accused of sajaegi just because they beated groups from the big 3 or very popular artists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kally 9,950 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 It's not even surprising anymore if a group is accused of sajaegi just because they beated groups from the big 3 or very popular artists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaeNari 719 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 It's not even surprising anymore if a group is accused of sajaegi just because they beated groups from the big 3 or very popular artists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remembering 7,109 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Ikon. Laboum's label mate, Lim Jung Chang. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cornangel 5,295 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 2ne1 can't relate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
田馥甄 3,796 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 cnblue was accused too when they beat snsd on music shows. Same with sistar when they beat another big 3 group. There's usually a pattern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loonatrash 2,441 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 cnblue was accused too when they beat snsd on music shows. Same with sistar when they beat another big 3 group. There's usually a pattern. When someone beats a group from the big 3. Everyone is pointing fingers and accusing that group of sajaegi which is kind of sad honestly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
田馥甄 3,796 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 When someone beats a group from the big 3. Everyone is pointing fingers and accusing that group of sajaegi which is kind of sad honestly There are legit sajaegi cases but a lot of the accusations (like the cnblue one) are also thrown because fans of certain groups can't stomach their favs being beaten by group of inferior standings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samoanstar1 8 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 When someone beats a group from the big 3. Everyone is pointing fingers and accusing that group of sajaegi which is kind of sad honestly its quite sad really. When they started accusing sistar back in 2012, I was like oh please. my friend who knew nothing about kpop just stationed in korea that year, was saying that SISTAR was bigger than Psy. Same year Gangnam style went viral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diminie 12,045 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 It's not even surprising anymore if a group is accused of sajaegi just because they beated groups from the big 3 or very popular artists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead In a Ditch 792 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Bts and others are unfairly accused of this? That's not right. Who are big3? Excuse my ignorance I'm new to Kpop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Everything 23,394 Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 Bts and others are unfairly accused of this? That's not right. Who are big3? Excuse my ignorance I'm new to Kpop. SM, YG, & JYP: the three biggest and most successful kpop companies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adda 9,200 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Laboum's next album sales will show if it was a chart manipulation or not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loonatrash 2,441 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Bts and others are unfairly accused of this? That's not right. Who are big3? Excuse my ignorance I'm new to Kpop. The Big 3 companies are: SM, YG and JYP SM has acts like Red Velvet, SNSD, NCT, EXO etc YG has IKON, Winner, Black Pink, Big Bang etc JYP has TWICE, GOT7, Baek A Yeon, Day6 etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead In a Ditch 792 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 SM, YG, & JYP: the three biggest and most successful kpop companies And big3 fans think that the groups that come from there are the best and nobody else can be successful like them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
My Everything 23,394 Posted May 2, 2017 Author Share Posted May 2, 2017 And big3 fans think that the groups that come from there are the best and nobody else can be successful like them? no but some do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAUCY 44,499 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 And big3 fans think that the groups that come from there are the best and nobody else can be successful like them? Yes. Theyll go around doing the worst if any other groups ends up successful. Yg and sm Stans are the worst at this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead In a Ditch 792 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 no but some do I see. Thanks for the info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dead In a Ditch 792 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Yes. Theyll go around doing the worst if any other groups ends up successful. Yg and sm Stans are the worst at this There is so much I don't know. I hope bts isn't accused of this anymore. Was this the only time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennaayy 14,875 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 Laboum's next album sales will show if it was a chart manipulation or not. Not really anymore considering their company basically said a CF company purchased the albums in bulk meaning the company knew ahead of time how many thousands of copies they needed to produce and ship via Gaon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAUCY 44,499 Posted May 2, 2017 Share Posted May 2, 2017 There is so much I don't know. I hope bts isn't accused of this anymore. Was this the only time? Not rly. It kept going on till young forever. Nowadays people try and attack them for other things. It happens every comeback. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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