The Gaon Chart is the national chart of South Korea and is intended to be the equivalent of Oricon in Japan and Billboard in the United States. Check out the chart rankings for the first half of 2012 (January – June) below!
1. Big Bang – ’5th Album ALIVE’ – 266,911 albums 2. SHINee – ‘Sherlock 4th Mini Album’ – 168,161 albums 3. TaeTiSeo – ‘Twinkle’ – 140,826 albums 4. Xia Junsu – ‘Tarantallegra’ – 126,220 albums 5. CNBLUE – ’3rd Mini Album Ear Fun’ – 121,735 albums 6. Big Bang – Special Edition STILL ALIVE’ – 117,929 albums 7. Busker Busker – ‘Busker Busker 1st Album’ – 114,760 albums 8. INFINITE – ’3rd Mini Album Infinitize’ – 108,639 albums 9. EXO-K – ‘MAMA The 1st Mini Album’ – 106,683 albums 10. Shinhwa – ’10th Album The Return’ – 77,279 albums
Judging by another record set on Oricon's chart, the soaring popularity of Big Bang's "ALIVE" in Japan is likely to carry on for awhile.
Big Bang's has continued to gain more notable results with the fifth mini-album "ALIVE" by sitting at No. 2 on Oricon's daily album chart on Thursday.Other than Big Bang's breakthrough release, all other albums listed in the top ten are new entries by Japanese and foreign artists, including pop band Maroon 5 and Grammy Award-winning guitarist Tak Matsumoto.Dropped on March 28 in Japan, the Japanese edition of "ALIVE" is composed of seven tracks from the original edition and three additional songs--"EGO," "FEELING" and the Japanese version of "HaruHaru."In Korea, meanwhile, the five members are truly cementing themselves as K-pop icons with "STILL ALIVE"-- the special edition of "ALIVE"-- and sat atop both singles and album charts on Gaon last week.Having wrapping up their promotional activities in Korea, Big Bang's T.O.P has recently been cast as the male lead in an upcoming film tentatively titled "The Alumni."