NCT 127 joins K-pop elite with Australian Top 20 debut

With their Top 20 debut on the ARIA Albums Chart, NCT 127 join an elite club of K-Pop acts riding a wave of popularity in these parts.

The K-pop boyband, a nine-strong “sub-unit” of the group NCT, which gathers 23 members, blasted in at No. 16 on the ARIA Albums Chart this week with Sticker, their third Korean-language collection.

NCT 127 becomes just the fourth K-Pop act to land inside the Top 20, joining world-beaters BTS, Stray Kids and Blackpink (whose member Rosé was raised in Australia and New Zealand).

The album was released Sept. 17 Down Under through a partnership of SM Entertainment and the recently relaunched Virgin Music brand.

“Virgin Australia is excited to be part of the NCT 127 album launch via our global partnership with SM Entertainment and look forward to being involved with future K-Pop releases in the ANZ region,” comments Timothy Janes, General Manager of Virgin Music ANZ.

As previously reported, the Australian affiliate of Virgin Music Label And Artist Services plugs into Universal Music Group’s global network of Virgin Music Label and Artists Services regional hubs, unveiled earlier this year.

Stream NCT 127’s ‘Sticker’:

SM Entertainment, the largest music label in Korea, recently launched in Australian and New Zealand, and is guided by former Sony Music Australia executive Gavin Parry.

“NCT 127’s local chart result shows that the group, and more generally K-Pop, has become very relevant to the ANZ market and we can expect to see many more of SM Entertainment’s K-Pop artists impacting our charts in the near future,” comments Parry.

NCT 127 — Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Doyoung, Yuta, Jaehyun, Jungwoo, Mark and Haechan — has been on a tear with their latest release.

The album has already blasted past two million combined sales, after rocketing to No. 1 in their native South Korea, No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart (behind only releases from Drake and Lil Nas X), and entering the Top 40 in the U.K..

Fans with deep pockets can get a piece of the action.

Earlier this month, SM Entertainment formally placed a 20% stake in the company for sale, including founder Lee Soo-man’s 18% holding.

Lee and his company were trailblazers in the smoking hot genre, launching the careers of first-generation K-pop acts including H.O.T., TVXQ, BoA and Girls’ Generation.

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.