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‘Love Dive’: Why are middle-aged Koreans selling out IVE's albums?

Knetizens were surprised when it was reported that the majority of Koreans buying IVE's albums were in their 40s

IVE has taken up the mantle of monster rookies as they have constantly been the talk of the town since they debuted in December 2021. Fans were first excited when it was announced that the girl group would have two IZ*ONE members – Ahn Yujin and Wonyoung. Their debut single ‘Eleven’ topped the charts and they became the fastest girl group to get a music show win after their debut. They also became the only girl group with the most wins in their debut era. They have since then only risen higher as their first comeback ‘Love Dive’ has been competing in the big leagues.

Fans were first afraid for IVE when it was reported that they would be making a comeback at the same time as BIGBANG, one of the biggest K-pop groups of the 2010s. However, the girl group surprised everyone as they not only held their own but also ended up winning on a couple of music shows, defeating BIGBANG. While IVE’s latest single ‘Love Dive’ was only released a month ago, it is constantly being sold out. In fact, on May 6, it was reported that the single had crossed 490K sales and 40 million streams on Spotify. But surprisingly, their albums are being sold out by middle-aged Koreans.

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Middle-aged Koreans buy IVE’s albums

Fans and Knetizens were surprised when it was reported that IVE’s second single ‘Love Dive’s demographic majorly consisted of Korean women in their 40s. Teenage girls buying the album was over 19 per cent and women in their 20s made up 18 per cent of the consumers. Meanwhile, women in their forties purchasing the album was over 23 per cent. Similarly, the men who majorly bought ‘Love Dive’ were in their forties too. However, as fans investigated this phenomenon, it turned out that these middle-aged Korean consumers had the most wholesome reason for making up the majority of IVE’s consumers.

The customer review section revealed that most of the consumers were purchasing IVE’s album for younger relatives like daughters and nieces. One Knetizen had left a review, “Buying another in pink. My daughter wanted another one.” Another user had posted, “I ordered it for my daughter, and she said that there was a photo? of the member that she really liked, so she was very energetic. The contents inside are exactly the type of things that kids these days like.” One had written, “My niece who is 6 years old loves IVE. Her and all her little kindergarten friends sing 'Eleven' together.”

‘Kids love IVE’

Fans found it adorable that adults were buying IVE’s albums for their children and kid relatives, “Yep yep proven. kids loves ive.” One fan joked, “Me when im 40. But for myself.” Another fan corroborated, “Woah my little sister likes IVE too because their song is catchy, i can't believe that kids really do like them.” Another shared, “My niece wants one too, kids really do like them.”