K-Pop Artists Claim 5 Of Top 10 Spots On U.S. List Of Best-Selling CDs In 1st Half Of 2025

K-pop artists made up half of the United States’ midyear list of the best-selling CD albums of 2025!

American music data tracking firm Luminate (formerly Nielsen Music), which supplies the data for the Billboard charts, has now released its list of the best-selling CDs in the first half of 2025. The tracking period for the first half of the year ran from January 3 through July 3, 2025.

On the list ranking CD sales only (not including digital download albums or any other format), K-pop artists claimed five spots out of the midyear top 10.

Stray Kids’ special album “合 (HOP)” was the United States’ best-selling CD album by a group in the first half of 2025—and the No. 2 best-selling CD overall, after The Weeknd’s “Hurry Up Tomorrow”—with 163,000 copies sold.

ENHYPEN’s “DESIRE : UNLEASH,” which was released just one month before the end of the tracking period, was the No. 3 best-selling CD of the first half of 2025 with 145,000 copies sold in the United States.

ATEEZ’s “GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3,” which was released less than a month before the end of the tracking period, was the No. 4 best-selling CD with 116,000 copies sold in the first half of the year.

SEVENTEEN’s “HAPPY BURSTDAY” took No. 7 on the list with 79,000 copies sold in the United States.

Finally, LE SSERAFIM, the only girl group to make the midyear list, claimed No 9 with their latest mini album “HOT,” which sold 73,000 copies in the United States.

The top 10 best-selling CD albums in the United States in the first half of 2025 are as follows:

1. The Weeknd – “Hurry Up Tomorrow” (163,000)
2. Stray Kids – “合 (HOP)” (149,000)
3. ENHYPEN – “DESIRE : UNLEASH” (145,000)
4. ATEEZ – “GOLDEN HOUR : Part.3” (116,000)
5. Sabrina Carpenter – “Short n’ Sweet” (93,000)
6. Lady Gaga – “MAYHEM” (83,000)
7. SEVENTEEN – “HAPPY BURSTDAY” (79,000)
8. Kendrick Lamar – “GNX” (75,000)
9. LE SSERAFIM – “HOT” (73,000)
10. Morgan Wallen – “I’m the Problem” (71,000)

Stray Kids and ENHYPEN also made the separate midyear list of the overall top 10 best-selling albums in the first half of 2025 in the United States, which includes not only CD sales but also digital sales and other physical formats.

Stray Kids’ “合 (HOP)” ranked No. 8 for the first half of the year with 149,000 sales, while ENHYPEN’s “DESIRE : UNLEASH” took No. 9 with 145,000 sales.

Congratulations to all of the artists!

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