Ask Asian Junkie: Are Korean Charts Reliable & Are Korean Music Programs Popular?

Two interesting questions posed by a reader.

Hello,

Here’s a few things that I’ve been wondering about:

1. Is GAON/Billboard an accurate depiction of what songs are popular in Korea at the moment or is that also skewed by the “devoted” fans?

I’ve talked about this issue with friends and Asian Junkie staff before, and it’s honestly a frustrating issue.

In effect, Korea has no Oricon for physical sales or Recochoku for digital sales like Japan does. As a result, there are a ton of charts out there and every chart has credibility problems.

If you put a gun to my head, I would take a combination of Gaon for physical and Instiz for digital, but I’ve seen Korean netizens complaining about the credibility of those as well.

I don’t recall any stories of Japanese companies trying to buy back their albums to increase sales, but Korean companies have a reputation for doing this, so a lot of the questions revolve around how the Korean charts count that. If you read comment threads during fan wars, they are psychotic, so they diligently point out discrepancies in sales, like when a group’s sales in the 10th week of release go from 587 to 9,412 or something.

2. Are the main 4 music programs “MuBank/Countdown/Inki/MuCore” popularly watched?

The main ones you listed are, but the ones that have recently sprung up? Touch and go, I think.

I have a few more but I don’t remember them now. Is it all right if I ask them later?

Thanks

Of course.

===

I have nothing better to do, so send me your questions here: Ask Asian Junkie.