BTS And Seventeen Tie For The Second-Most Korean Certifications Of All Time As NCT Dream Advances

Note: An earlier version of this article stated incorrect numbers of album certifications for some of the groups mentioned. This was due to limited visibility regarding which titles have been certified in South Korea. These figures have now been updated. The writer would like to apologize for the initial misreporting and thank the fans who pointed out the correct numbers.

Every month, Gaon, an organization in South Korea that compiles and publishes the music charts, also doles out highly-coveted certifications for those albums and songs that have reached special sales thresholds. The company has only been announcing these awards for a few years, so it's still common for some of the biggest acts in the business to make history with some regularity, collecting new prizes and proving over and over that they are among the most successful in the Asian nation.

This month, seven albums received certifications of some kind, going platinum, double platinum or even earning a certification for selling two million copies. Three of the biggest boy groups in the history of the South Korean music industry collect new honors, and in doing so, two of them once again tie each other for the second-most such prizes in the country’s music industry, while the other advances once more.

With one new certification apiece, BTS and Seventeen both now claim seven such awards in their home country. The all-male vocal acts are now tied for the most certifications among boy bands, and they both come in second place when looking at all acts. Girl group Twice leads all names with eight certifications.

Of the two boy groups, BTS score the larger of the prizes, as their most recent release, Butter, has turned out to be unbeatable. The single album, which features two singles—the title track, follow-up smash "Permission to Dance" as well as instrumentals of both cuts—has now been certified for selling two million units.

In fact, Butter has already sold more than 2.5 million copies since being released in mid-July. That sum includes only purchases of the full single album, and not of the tune itself or second single "Permission to Dance." Both of those tracks became huge successes on their own, and they powered the single album as well.

Seventeen also snags a seventh certification as the all-male vocal act's Director's Cut, itself a reissued version of their sophomore album Teen, Age, hits platinum status this month for the first time. The project was released back in 2018, so fans are surely happy it’s reached this momentous milestone.

NCT Dream sees the kit version of their title Hello Future make it to platinum status for the first time, which isn’t shocking, as it’s still relatively new. The set is a repackaging of their debut album Hot Sauce, and the music on these collections has proved to be incredibly successful, as fans keep buying the cuts over and over. Hot Sauce itself earned a two million certification earlier this summer, while the original Hello Future has gone triple platinum.

With one more win to their credit, NCT Dream now counts half a dozen South Korean certifications, enough for them to tie Got7 for the fourth-most of all time among all acts and the third-most when considering just male vocal troupes.

BTS have now seen the following half-dozen releases earn some kind of certification from Gaon: Butter, Be, Map of the Soul: Persona, Map of the Soul: 7, BTS World, Love Yourself: Answer and Love Yourself: Tear. Matching the septet (in terms of the number of honors), Seventeen's albums that have been certified now include: Director’s Cut, Your Choice, An Ode, Semicolon, You Made My Dawn, You Make My Day and Heng:garae. In addition to the three aforementioned projects, NCT Dream has also scored certifications for their releases We Go Up, Reload and We Boom, bringing their total to an even six.