Korea Music Charts - November

Sorry this chart is so late this month, but MIAK just put the numbers up on their website.

So, what do we have this month? The first thing I noticed was the plummeting of Rain's new album, from No. 1 last month all the way down to 11 this month (which is why I made this month's list a top-11, just to include Rain). After two months, Rain still has not made it to the 90,000 sales figure, which is pretty shocking. Considering the big push Rain is getting around Asia and in the United States (his US concerts begin tomorrow in Las Vegas, then New York), I wonder if he will become the male version of BoA -- bigger abroad than at home.

Lee Seung-hwan's album, "Hwantastic", should have had the most dubious title of the month... but amazingly Se7en managed to beat him out with Se7olution. I am not big on cussing on this blog, but really, "Se7olution"? WTF?

I have no idea who Gavy NJ is, in No. 7. KBS and Soompi called them "the female SG Wannbe". Which means about as much to me as saying they are "the female mauve."

(Hrm... my attempt at being a smart-ass inspired me to Google "mauve." Turns out it is a color invented in 1854 by chemist William Henry Perkin, when he was 18 years old. You learn something new every day. Read all about it here.)

Kind of surprising and disappointing to see that new Loveholic make its debut at No. 14. Granted, the album was just released on Nov. 21, but it only sold 6,170 albums so far. Loveholic is one of the few mainstream, modern Korean bands that I actually like. Much like Roller Coaster and Classiquai, with that light, mellow funk thing. Hopefully their sales will pick up.

This Month	Artist	Album Name	Release Date	This Month's Sales	Total Sales
1.	Dong Bang Shin Gi	Vol. 3 - O-Union	9.28	144,535	334,271
2.	Lee Seung-hwan	Vol. 9 - Hwantastic	11.10	45,332	45,332
3.	SG Wannabe	The Precious History	11.16	45,122	45,122
4.	Se7en	Vol. 4 - Se7olution	10.31	31,707	48,041
5.	Sung Shi-gyung	Vol. 5	10.10	30,807	82,416
6.	Jun Jin	Love Doesn't Come (single)	11.15	25,620	25,620
7.	Big Bang	Big Bang Vol. 3 (single)	11.21	24,100	24,100
8.	Gavy NJ	Vol. 2	11.15	22,197	22,197
9.	Lee Seung-chul	Reflection of Sound	9.27	22,187	58,373
10.	Sin Ho-yeong	Vol. 1 - Yes	9.14	18,502	65,500
11.	Rain	Vol. 4 - I'm Coming	10.13	13,901	85,115

(source: MIAK)
(Note: Chart fixed 18 Jan. 2007)

Other than the No. 1 album and the no. 10 (and Mariah Carey, kind of), the rest of this month's top-10 is all new. Really bad month for sales, though. Numbers were all down from last month. Considering that movie attendance dropped 11% last month, too, I guess November is a dead period for entertainment in Korea. Hopefully sales will be up for the Christmas season.

Foreign Sales:

This Month	Artist	Album Name	Release Date	This Month's Sales	Total Sales
1.	Richard Yongjae O'Neil	Lachrymae	9.07	6,234	19,454
2.	Westlife	The Love Album	11.20	5,587	5,587
3.	Josh Groban	Awake	11.09	4,488	4,488
4.	ABBA	ABBA No. 1 Limited	11.22	4,467	4,467
5.	The Beatles	Love	11.21	4,045	4,045
6.	Jamiroquai	High Times (Singles 1992-2006)	11.08	4,039	4,039
7.	Mariah Carey	Merry Christmas (repackage)	11.15	4,031	11,546
8.	Kenny G	The Most Romantic Melodies	11.20	3,461	3,461
9.	Baek Geon-woo	Beethoven Piano Sonatas 1 & 2	11.09	3,125	3,125
10.	Queen	The Platinum Collection	03.2.25	2,672	37,241

(source: MIAK)