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Kim Hojoong Sells More Than 500,000 Physical Copies of his Album on Day One of Release

December 18, 2020

Kim Hojoong has just had one of the biggest global album successes of the year with the launch of The Classic Album. The release, which was produced and distributed by Warner Music Korea, received more than 500,000 pre-orders for physical copies, with more fans heading to the shops across the country today.

Such a high level of physical sales is usually associated with leading KPop acts, such as BTS or EXO, rather than a classical music artist.

Simon Robson, President, Warner Music Asia, says: “This is an incredible achievement. It’s great that Warner have been able to help Kim Hojoong scale new heights and have the potential to be in the Top 10 global album chart of 2020 with his latest release. It will certainly be the biggest classical album of the year worldwide and it highlights the quality and diversity of Korean music beyond just KPop.”

Kim Hojoong is a 28-year-old aspiring opera singer who shot to stardom after competing in the finals of the hugely popular Korean TV show Mr Trot earlier this year. The programme saw contestants perform trot music, a traditional Korean genre that has had a new wave of popularity in the last decade. Kim Hojoong won a large fanbase off the back of the TV show and was even dubbed a ‘KTrot Idol’ by the media.

He went on to release his debut album, Our Family, a collection of trot songs, in August and it has generated more than half a million sales to date.

This new classical album showcases Kim’s renditions of the some of the all-time greats, from Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ to Capua’s ‘O Sole Mio’. It was recorded in Seoul in September with the prestigious Korean Coop Orchestra, shortly before he began his compulsory military service.

With more than half a million sales before it was even released, The Classic Album could be heading for the global top 10 charts. Last year, The Beatles’ Abbey Road made the chart – published by trade body IFPI – with 800,000 unit sales.