
The below rankings are based on sales of movie, music and TV releases on YesAsia.com from January 1 to June 30, 2016. Sales of all editions and versions of the same title are summed up to determine the total sales and ranking of each title.
Make way for
BTS! The Bangtan Boys come in first at the half-year mark with the special album
Young Forever. Even more impressive, their 2015 albums also make the list, giving them three releases in the top ten. Last year's top seller
EXO cedes the #1 position for now with their third album, just released in mid-June, at second. A new generation rises with
Seventeen continuing their strong performance from last year, and JYP's new girl group
Twice storming in at #4.
AOA also breaks into the top ten for the first time while SHINee's
Tae Min is the only soloist on the list.
EXO has been consistently leading Chinese music sales since their debut, and this year looks to be no different with the group's third album coming in first.
Lu Han follows right behind with his first solo album.
Jay Chou shows he's still the king of C-pop with two releases in the top ten including his new album which was just released a week earlier but managed to chart fourth. Freshly crowned Golden Melody Best Mandarin Male Singer
JJ Lin joins Hong Kong pop stalwarts like
Sandy Lam and
Twins for the remaining spots.
VIXX's first Japanese album edged out perennial top seller
Arashi's
I seek / Daylight single by a nail-thin margin to become the best-selling Japanese music release in the first half of 2016. Arashi, however, still reigns as the only artist to chart twice in the top five. Japanese releases by popular Korean idols like
B.A.P,
SHINee and
Girls' Generation occupy seven spots in the top ten, and Johnny's group
Hey! Say! JUMP's latest concert rounds things out at #10.
We can always count on
Donnie Yen movies to do well, and when the movie also happens to be titled
Ip Man, there's pretty much no competition.
Ip Man 3 and the
Crouching Tiger sequel gives Donnie two in the top five while
Aaron Kwok has three films in the top ten. With new works by marque filmmakers like
Hou Hsiao Hsien,
John Woo,
Chen Kaige and
Stephen Chow, Chinese-language cinema easily dominates the list, though it's Taiwan youth blockbuster
Our Times that edged out bigger productions for the #2 spot. Not content with just taking over our music charts, K-pop group
EXO sneaks in at #8 with the movie version of their web drama
EXO Next Door.
TVB's high-profile period production
Lord of Shanghai narrowly beat out acclaimed Chinese series
Nirvana in Fire to become the best-selling TV drama of the year thus far. Two of China's biggest costume dramas of 2015,
The Empress of China and
The Journey of Flower, also make the top five. The most talked about Korean drama of the year,
Descendants of the Sun, comes in third while fan favorites
Oh My Ghostess,
Twenty Again and
She Was Pretty round out the top ten.
Related Articles:
Published July 6, 2016
Bookmark & Share