Gaon Announces Rebrand From Domestic Chart To Global "Circle Chart"

Gaon Chart has announced their rebrand to Circle Chart!

On July 7, the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) announced at the “Global K-pop Chart Vision Declaration Ceremony” that Gaon Chart would rebrand to Circle Chart. This change will focus on the chart’s addition of sharing album sales from both within and outside of Korea, as well as data of first-week album sales.

The KMCA commented, “Gaon Chart has shed the image of being a domestic music chart and changed its name to ‘Circle Chart,’ which collects K-pop associated data from all over the world. For this, we’ve signed data supply partnerships with YouTube, TikTok, Spotify, and Apple Music.”

The “Gaon Chart Awards” will now be renamed to the “Circle Chart Awards.” In addition to its existing charts, Circle Chart will also unveil a “Global K-pop Chart” that combines domestic and global data. On Circle Chart’s Retail Album Chart, fans will be able to see album sale counts divided by domestic and global data.

Circle Chart will also reveal a weekly album sales chart, on top of their current monthly and yearly album sales charts. This means that fans will now be able to see the data of artists’ first week of sales, which up until now, has been dependent on Circle Chart’s competitor, Hanteo Chart.

Newly introduced by Circle Chart is an environmentally friendly “Clean Chart,” which encourages the production of K-pop albums with minimal environmental pollution. They will establish their own “clean” production standards that will be reflected in the Clean Chart rankings.

Additionally, the KMCA has joined the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) as a national representative organization, meaning that the IFPI’s annual report will be published using KMCA’s data.

The association has also been designated Korea’s official registrar of the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), an international standard code for identifying recordings of sound and music videos. Thus, the KMCA will now oversee the worldwide distribution codes of all K-pop music.

Choi Kwang Ho, the secretary general of the KMCA, shared, “As Gaon Chart has rebranded to Circle Chart, we can connect all K-pop fandoms from around the world as one. Through this, we will play the role of a bridge that spreads the positive influence of K-pop. As a K-pop big data hub, we will work to become a tool for even more accurate data to be used in the industry.”

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