Preface

The end-of-year lists have recently been published by Gaon. The first section begins with a short review of chart-toppers before moving to the next section, which covers certifications. For those who are interested in further reading, extras are mentioned at the very end.

Let’s get started!

Gaon Digital Chart

All songs that ranked in the year-end lists for 2021 were published separately by Gaon, for example, here (Digital) and here (Downloads).

However, the table below only identifies artists whose songs became their first chart-toppers on the Gaon Digital Chart.

In addition, a list of songs that went to #1 on any given week, or had accumulated the most points for a given month, are also summarised here.

Gaon Album Chart

All albums were ranked in a year-end list for 2021 that was published separately by Gaon here.

However, the table below only identifies artists whose albums became their first chart-toppers on the Gaon Album Chart.

A list of albums that went to #1 on any given week, or had accumulated the most sales for a given month, are also summarised here.

Certifications

In 2021, 112 certifications were awarded by Gaon across the digital, downloads and album categories. Among these 112 certifications, 39 were awarded solely to 2021 releases, and 23 were re-certified by way of upgrading. In total, 65 names were mentioned, with 37 achieving certifications in any one of these categories for the first time.

It is worth noting that this listing also includes certifications issued by Gaon in January 2022.

Albums

In 2021, Gaon issued certifications to 67 albums. This information is summarised below in a table and is taken from the full listing published by Gaon.

More than 35 artists received certifications in this category, with 14 receiving a certification in this category for the first time. During this period, at least 38 of those certifications were given to 2021 releases. Moreover, 17 albums were re-certified by way of upgrading.

In 2021, the highest certification was given to MAP OF THE SOUL : PERSONA, for exceeding shipments of four million. This album is not only the current recordholder recorded for boy groups, but also across all albums in the history of the chart. For girl groups this year, the highest certification was given to three groups whose individual albums exceeded 500,000 shipments.

For soloists, this has also been a year for change. Bambi – The 3rd Mini Album is the first album by a soloist that has received a Million certification. Additionally, this is the first year where female soloists have been certified for their albums, with R and LALISA respectively achieving the highest recorded shipments among female soloists for that same year.

Downloads

In 2021, Gaon issued certifications to 11 songs in the category of downloads. This information is summarised below in a table and is taken from the full listing published by Gaon.

All these songs are newly certified, though it is the first time for eight artists to have been certified in this particular category.

Streaming

In 2021, Gaon issued certifications to 34 songs in the category of streaming. This information is summarised below in a table and is taken from the full listing published by Gaon.

More than 27 artists received certifications in this category, with 17 receiving a certification in this category for the first time. During this period, at least five of those certifications were given to 2021 releases. Moreover, six songs were re-certified by way of upgrading.

Bonus

This section includes extras that might loosely relate to one’s success on the Gaon Chart.

Cumulative million sellers

In 2022, it was reported in the media that many Korean artists recorded over 1,000,000 cumulative shipments across all of their albums within a 10 year-period (2011–2021).

As mentioned in the table above, for these eight Korean artists, they were mentioned in the report for the first time, after recording 1,000,000 album shipments across all of their Korean releases, within a 10-year-period.

However, others may have achieved this, too, though this has not been confirmed by Gaon themselves. For example, IU, another female Korean soloist, might have surpassed 1,000,000 cumulative shipments across all her albums.

Music show wins

In 2021, 19 artists achieved their first music show wins.

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