TWICE reached a significant milestone yesterday: 20 million albums sold! It's a staggering number for a Kpop group that only adds to the list of record breaking achievements that the group has earned in their nine years of activity. The breakdown of sales, which includes solo and subunits, is:
And while 20 million is pretty remarkable, what might be more interesting is the pace at which they've been garnering sales. Previously, TWICE reached 5 million copies sold in early 2019, 10 million copies in late 2020, and 15 million copies sometime between late 2022 and early 2023. Breaking it down, we can clearly see that their sales milestones are indeed speeding up:
With this, it looks like they could reach 25 million sales before the end of 2025 if this continues.
Sluggish industry sales
Despite TWICE's increasing sales rate, the Kpop industry has been plagued by a decline in album sales since at least last year. Slow economic growth, particularly in China, is seen as the main culprit for the lower numbers. Other factors include a shift to streaming, a competitive industry, and possibly a financially exhausted fanbase who find it difficult to purchase albums when they could just attend a concert instead.
TWICE are less impacted by a decline in Chinese sales since the group doesn't have a large Chinese fanbase, however the group's album "Ready to Be" (2023) outperformed "With YOU-th" (2024) by around 360,000 copies (1.53m vs 1.17m respectively). It's likely then that the other factors are affecting the group's sales, and since the economic turmoil persists, the group's upcoming albums may see additional drops in sales.
Is 25 in 2025 still possible?
Given TWICE's increasing sales rate but overall decline across the industry, it's still possible that they could reach 25 million sales by the end of 2025 due to a couple of reasons. The first is that TWICE's "READY TO BE" concert tour is winding down, which will give fan's bank accounts breathing room. Secondly, we have both Nayeon's solo comeback and TWICE's Japanese comeback set for this summer. A Korean comeback is projected for Q3 of this year too. Combined, the three albums could see anywhere between 2 to 3 million copies sold, even with the sales slump. The group would then have the whole of the next year to come up with an additional 2 or 3 million spread across multiple albums.
A big variable though is the contract situation. TWICE renewed their contract in 2022, however contract renewals are often only for three years. There was a rumor in Taiwanese press circulating that eight of the nine members of the group renewed for 5 years, while Tzuyu opted for 3 years instead, so 2025 might not be where the story ends. And even if their contract needs renewal, it's not unheard of to renew for a second time as was the case with another JYPE group, 2PM.
So with all of this, it still looks possible for TWICE to reach 25 million albums sold next year, though the milestone might be harder to get compared to previous ones.