SM Entertainment's rookie boy group RIIZE, who debuted in 2023, is now under observation after being accused of 'sajaegi.'
In the South Korean music industry, the term 'sajaegi' refers to the unethical or illegal manipulation of chart rankings. This includes the involvement of entertainment agencies in buying large quantities of their own CDs or using bots or computer farms to artificially show an increase in the streaming numbers and boost chart positions.
Back in September 2023, the seven-member K-Pop boy band's debut single 'Get A Guitar,' earned the status of a 'Million-Seller,' selling over 1.01 million copies in its first week itself. According to Circle Chart's monthly album sales chart, the total sales reached 1,039,600 copies by the end of September, but saw a slight decrease to 1,038,084 copies in the monthly album sales chart of December.
This mathematical equation left netizens in a state of confusion, considering the fact that RIIZE has conducted about 60 events like in-person fan signs, fan calls, lucky draw events, all in which fans compulsorily have to purchase their album. However, rather than contributing to the annual sales record, these were only lowering the sales figures.
Why is it happening? The most plausible reason is that SM Entertainment collaborated with album distributors to "place orders of albums in advance." This means that there's more stock than sales, requesting fans to make bulk purchases within the first week of the album's release, even before they are distributed physically until later. It's usually done to "fill the quota" before ending all promotions for that specific album, which involves conducting special events to ensure that the albums ordered and sold "in advance" showcase accurate sales figures.
But if you take RIIZE's case specifically, they "failed to fill the quota" which led to a decrease in the album sales. They also started promotions for new songs, while still holding onto their old release 'Get A Guitar,' as well as showing off their 'Million-Seller' title, when in fact, they probably wouldn't have sold that many copies if it weren't for all the "advance orders."
This has naturally taken all netizens by surprise. They took to social media to comment nasty things like, "SM pulled a fast one to build hype for RIIZE so they could have the 'Million-Seller' title, but in the end, we won't ever know if they were actually capable of selling a million albums just with their debut..."
Another said, "In the end, all of those awards that they got, all of that attention they've been getting as the 'rising rookies', was all fabricated lies." While one more said, "If you're going to cheat, you need to make sure you don't get caught!"
