GFriend dominates Gaon Chart in first half of 2016

Rookie group GFriend, one of the hottest trending K-pop acts these days, has performed well on the local music chart Gaon Chart in the first half of the year.

GFriend’s single “Rough” ranked No. 1 on its National Digital Singles, Online Downloads and Online Streaming charts. The single was released in January as part of the group’s third EP “Snowflake.” 

Another single “Me gustas tu,” which was part of its second EP “Flowers,” hit the No. 15 spot on the Online Streaming chart and ranked No. 20 in Digital Singles. 

Coming in at No. 1 in the Physical Albums ranking was the powerhouse EXO. The group’s latest full-length studio album “Ex’act (Korean Version)” is currently the top-selling album of the year so far -- with 524,823 copies sold -- despite only having been released less than two months ago, on June 9.

The group’s Chinese Version of the album came in at the No. 3 spot, with 242,432 copies sold.

The Gaon Music Chart tracks the popularity of songs and albums in Korea with data compiled by the Korea Music Content Industry. It aims to be a music national chart equivalent to that of Billboard in the U.S.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)