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K-pop album sales in Japan hit all-time high in 2011

Japanese purchases of Korean pop music hit an all-time high last year, according to industry data. According to Oricon Inc., a provider of music industry statistics, sales of albums, singles, DVDs and blue-ray disks of K-pop increased for the third consecutive year to 24.47 billion yen ($310 million) last year, up 22.3 percent from 2010.

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South Korean signers' annual market share also rose from 6 percent to 7.8 percent during the period. The comparable figure for 2009 was 3 percent. Korea's leading idol groups Kara and Girls' Generation advanced to the Japanese market after 2009.

Also in 2011, a total of 10 singles or albums of K-pop singers or groups, including TVXQ, Big Bang, Girls' Generation, Kara, Jang Keun-suk, "T-ara" and 2NE1, reached the top position on Oricon's weekly chart, breaking the record of 2008 when five were on the chart.

Girls' Generation's album by the same name and Kara's "Super Girl" ranked within the top 10 of the Oricon albums yearly chart, selling 642,000 copies and 451,000 copies, respectively.

In the category of total annual sales by an artist, Kara ranked fourth with 4.93 billion yen closely followed by Girls' Generation with 4 billion yen. TVXQ was the ninth best-selling group, raking in 2.6 billion yen. (Yonhap)

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