GAON Releases 2012 Half Year Music Chart

Last week, GAON released their 2012 half-year music chart.  GAON is one of the biggest independent music chart source in Korea, and their music chart is often referred to as the official music chart in Korea. Unlike music charts from major TV networks, GAON’s ranking won’t be biased towards idol singers who performs a lot on TV. GAON is also a 15% chart source on our weekly Soompi Music Chart.  Looking at the top 10 of GAON’s list, it is very similar to our own half-year top 10 released earlier.

The 2012 half-year No. 1 song on the GAON chart goes to Busker Busker’s “Cherry Blossom Ending.”  This song is No. 5 on our soompi half-year top 10. It is a perfect example of a song that doesn’t rely on promotions.  This non-mainstream song doesn’t even appear on some of the network charts, but has very strong showings on airplay and all internet charts. Their win is not as surprising as many thought.

The No. 2 and 3 songs are the same as our half-year top 10.  T-Ara’s “Lovey Dovey” is at No. 2, while Big Bang’s “Fantastic Baby” is at No. 3. Big Bang is the only artist to have two songs on the GAON half-year top 10, as “Blue” also checks in at No. 5.  Our own half-year top song, Sistar’s “Alone”, is at No.4 on GAON’s list.

Three other songs on GAON’s top 10 also appears on our top 10.  Ailee’s “Heaven” is at No. 6 (No. 4 on soompi), Taetiseo’s “Twinkle” is at No. 8 (No. 6 on soompi), and Miss A’s “Touch” is at No. 10 (No. 9 on soompi).

Here is the full list of GAON’s half-year music chart.

What do you think?