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Top July K-pop artists: NCT Dream’s double million, ATEEZ and Stray Kids’ double platinum badge

Gaon Music Chart releases cumulative sales for July, awards sales certificates to NCT Dream, ATEEZ and Stray Kids

The Gaon Music Chart is a reputable Korean music chart that handles the statistics of all South Korean music produced and is said to be similar to USA’s Billboard and Japan’s Oricon. Since 2018, they’ve also been responsible for handing out music recording certifications and in July 2021, they released their newest winners which include 3rd and 4th-gen stars.

On July 8, Gaon chart released the list of artists that they had decided to award with certification badges. NCT Dream earned a double million certificate for their first studio album ‘Hot Sauce’. They were followed by 4th-gen groups, ATEEZ's ‘ZERO: Fever Part.2’ and Stray Kids’ ‘IN生’ (IN LIFE) as both got a double platinum badge.

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NCT Dream has been talked about for a while now since the release of their first studio album and its repackage, ‘Hello Future’. In fact, the total sales of both albums have made them a triple million-seller according to Gaon Chart. ‘Hot Sauce’ sold more than two million copies and got a double million badge in July while ‘Hello Future’ sold more than a million copies. This ended up making NCT Dream the country’s youngest group to have triple million sales.

Ateez too broke records with their latest album release ‘ZERO: Fever Part.2’. The group set a new record for themselves by selling around 300K copies in the very first week of the album release which was in March 2021. They had already gotten a platinum badge by Gaon which is for more than 250K sales. But by July, the sales increased to more than 500K copies. This makes the 4th-gen boy group’s first album to get a double platinum certificate.

And the latest 4th-gen group to get their first double-platinum badge happens to be Stray Kids. The boy group ended up getting this achievement for their very first repackaged album ‘IN生’ (IN LIFE). It was released back in September 2020 and became the group’s best-selling album at that time as they sold more than 300K copies. They earned a platinum badge back then and now have ended up getting the double platinum with more than 500K sales.

'World domination'

Fans of all three groups were elated. One Atiny tweeted, “ATEEZ Gaon Double Platinum Hanteo 2021 Global Chart.” An NCTzen tweeted, “nct dream sacrificed their childhood to trained for years and working hard to achieve their dreams at a very young age. they debuted when they were 14-17yo and now become the youngest triple million seller. So proud of them.” A Stay tweeted, “STRAY KIDS WORLD DOMINATION.”