CN Blue Tops Music Charts in Japan, Korea and Taiwan

CN Blue has topped one of Japan’s most prestigious album charts today to become the top album seller in all three of Asia’s leading music markets, following Korea and Taiwan earlier this month. According to CN Blue’s management agency FNC Music, the boy band’s first regular album, “First Step” was the top selling album on the online pre-order sales charts of Japan’s Tower Records, the country’s largest record store. The Korean band surpassed pre-order sales of AKB48, Japan’s most popular idol group, reflecting their growing popularity all over Asia.

CN Blue’s new album has already been a smashing hit in Korea as it ranked #1 on various local online charts and weekly music shows such as KBS “Music Bank,” SBS “Inkigayo,” and Mnet “M! Countdown!” Also, “First Step” was the number one album on Taiwan’s “G-Music: J-Pop Weekly Chart” last week. The feat was all the more impressive because the group didn’t even release the “First Step” album in Taiwan yet, and had not run a single album promotion for it either.

“After the release of ‘First Step,’ we sold a total of 130,000 copies so far, including the special limited edition. If you add the license albums sold in overseas markets, the figure is expected to be a lot higher,” FNC Music said. “CN Blue members are very happy that fans from abroad are showing so much love,” it added.

CN Blue went as high as number two on Japan’s Oricon Chart last year, and became the first Korean artist to record double platinum in Taiwan with their two mini albums, “Blue Tory” and “Blue Love.” With “First Step,” CN Blue became only the third artist in Korea to reach the 100,000 milestone in album sales this year.