Boy band Seventeen’s EP “FML” was the globally best-selling album in 2023.

The album made it to No. 1 on the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's (IFPI) Global Album Chart for 2023, which was released Tuesday. Fellow Korean act Stray Kids’ “5-Star” landed on No. 2, followed by country singer Morgan Wallen’s “One Thing At A Time” and Taylor Swift’s “Midnights.”

The London-based record industry tracks album sales worldwide across streaming, downloads and physical music formats to calculate the most sold albums in a year.

The six-track “FML,” with double title tracks “Super” and “F*ck My Life,” was released in April 2023. It was the most pre-ordered K-pop album of all time, and debuted at No. 1 in Korea as well as reaching No. 1 in Japan and charting in the top 5 in France and the United States.

The band’s following 11th EP “Seventeenth Heaven,” released in October, landed on No. 8 on the IFPI’s chart. It is the first time the band has won the IFPI’s Global Album Chart.

K-pop albums accounted for a total of five out of the Top 10 albums, making it the best-ever Global Charts performance for Korean acts, according to IFPI.

Also winning big in sales was boy band Stray Kids, whose albums “5-Star” and “Rock-Star” landed on the No. 2 and No. 9 spots, respectively.

The band’s third full-length album “5-Star” was the best-selling K-pop album in the United States in 2023, and its title track topped both the Billboard 200 and Artist 100 charts in June. It is the band’s second time making it into the IFPI chart, having entered with its seventh EP “Maxident” at No. 6 on the 2022 list.

Boy band NCT Dream made its IFPI Global Chart debut with “ISTJ,” entering at No. 6. K-pop groups ZeroBaseOne and Ive also entered the chart for the first time, at No. 18 and No. 20 with albums “Youth In the Shade” and “I’ve IVE,” respectively.

BTS member Jungkook’s first full-length album “Golden” clocked in at No. 14.

“The global appeal of K-pop continues to extend and S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Migyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon and Dino continue to push the boundaries with their concepts, performances and talent,” Lewis Morrison, director of Global Charts and Certifications at IFPI, said on the win of “FML.”

“FML and Seventeenth Heaven were both huge hits across continents and our congratulations go to the group, their team and of course Carats all over the world,” Morrison added.


BY KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]