Why are groups without a hit (WJSN and Loona) getting more sales than top groups like Oh My Girl or Gfriend??

[YeoChin Fairies]

Well WJSN hit the 100k milestone and Loona are already selling Gfriend level with a few comebacks, could easily surpass them soon. Meanwhile Gfriend had one of biggest peaks within ggs in Kpop, released 2 national hits in a row to be getting maximum 96K or Oh My Girl who has released biggest gg hit of the year (until bp probably surpasses) alongside a hit b-side have sold maximum of 44k. 

Fromis_9 is probably in a similar situation to WJSN and Loona. Their growth has been crazy, would probably already sell 80-90K if they didn't go on hiatus for a whole year, looking at their growth. 

 

Do not feel defensive, this is just a question that took over my mind for some reason...

[Lee]

I'm curious too. I know that in GFRIEND and Oh My Girl's case, all of the members are Korean, while in LOONA and WJSN, there is Vivi and C-line respectively. I'm not sure if their inclusion to the group may have helped increase the number of album sales.

[Sofs]

Loona has more albums, some are limited and many buys to sell them after for a higher price, and I believe they have more fansigns and fansigns help boosting the sales. WJSN has members in china and since they became popular there, their chinese fanbase has been growing and supporting them while Gfriend and OMG don't have chinese fanbases that big. As long as they are solid on their sales and public knows them, they should be fine for a future outside kpop.

[twinkhun]

as far as i know, omg and gfriend are both massive domestically, while loona’s fanbase is more international. idk about wjsn, but i would assume that’s the main reason those have hits while loona and wjsn don’t. 

[MicrowavedTeaforYourSoul]

4 minutes ago, Lee said:

I'm curious too. I know that in GFRIEND and Oh My Girl's case, all of the members are Korean, while in LOONA and WJSN, there is Vivi and C-line respectively. I'm not sure if their inclusion to the group may have helped increase the number of album sales.

TBH I think Vivi is definitely not one of the more popular members even in China

[hynapia]

Simply because they have a bigger fandom, especially internationally (WJSN in China and Loona in western countries, especially US) while Gfriend and OMG have more public recognition in Korea but their fandom is probably not as big or invested. OMG in particular probably has a lot of casual listeners but not necessarily fans. I mean, it happens with boygroups too. Groups like Monsta X, ATEEZ, Stray Kids, etc don't chart at all or barely and they sell much more than groups like BTOB, Winner and iKON that have had big digital hits.

Having digital hits doesn't necessarily correlates to a big fandom that actually buy albums and go to concerts.

Edited July 9, 2020 by hynapia

[probee]

Makes you wonder. I mean, all the mentioned groups have somehow same style-concept (fairy-ish, dream-ish, fun, bright), but the only difference is, as what mentioned above, having foreign member(s). So no wonder, most upcoming debuting groups has at least a rumored foreign member.

Edited July 9, 2020 by probee

[satoori]

Because basically they're similar to what boy groups are known for traditionally. Good at building and establishing a loyal fandom. However their songs might not be the public's taste and/or they're not lucky, yet.

Edited July 9, 2020 by satoori
Words.

[Digiwon]

Cause they have a fandom that buy their stuff

[hynapia]

Just now, satoori said:

Because basically they're similar to what boy groups are known for traditionally. Good at building and establishing a loyal fandom. However their songs might not be the public's taste and/or their not lucky.

Exactly. In fact I made a thread a few months ago about how many ggs are becoming like bgs nowadays, in the sense that they don't chart or barely but they have big and invested fandoms. Even some rookie ggs have a solid fandom from the beginning. For example Everglow last year already sold 20k with their DEBUT album and they didn't chart anywhere. Or Weeekly this year has already sold 10k and they only charted in Bugs afaik. Many rookie ggs in fact start with a bigger fanbase and bigger sales than many rookie bgs.

[Tarted]

Loona: international fandom
WJSN: loyal domestic fandom 

[juu]

their fandom is just bigger, same with all the boygroups who sell 100k+ but don't chart 

[Jem's]

because both wjsn and loona have big ifandoms (loona in the west and wjsn in China). they have gained a lot of fans over the years thanks to their quality concepts/music. while gfriend and omg focus is Korea and don't really appeal to ifans, and I guess their kfandoms aren't very strong.