South Korea’s popular girl group aespa released their first full-length album “Armageddon” yesterday, May 27th. The album achieved pre-sale numbers exceeding 1.02 million copies, marking the fourth consecutive album by the group to reach a million sales following “Girls,” “MY WORLD,” and “Drama.” This new milestone indicates their strong presence in the music industry. The album’s performance on iTunes has also broken aespa’s previous records.
During the official album release event held on the 27th, member WINTER expressed, “Due to aespa’s distinctive style, we integrated our songs released since debut and worked with staff to focus on what truly represents aespa.” KARINA, who had previously voiced her desire for a full-length album and confidence in the title track, showed excitement about the new release.
The title track “Armageddon” conveys the theme of meeting different versions of oneself in a parallel world and facing infinite possibilities to achieve completeness. KARINA described the song as initially “earthy,” possibly appearing dry at first but becoming addictive with repeated listens.
One of the double title tracks, “Supernova,” pre-released by aespa, secured the top spot on various music platforms in Korea such as Melon, Bugs, and Genie. It achieved a “Perfect All Kill” record after three years and won on music shows, further showcasing the group’s popularity.
Regarding the success of “Supernova,” member NINGNING expressed gratitude for the positive response and pledged to work harder to repay the support of the company and fans. KARINA mentioned that rather than categorizing their songs as “Easy Listening” or “Hard Listening,” they aim to showcase “aespa’s music.”
The group personally introduced the album to fans, with GISELLE highlighting their aim to display aespa’s strength and confidence through the release. Among the two title tracks, KARINA particularly favored “Armageddon,” while NINGNING speculated on the alternate versions of herself in different worlds possibly engaging in music-related professions.
aespa’s album “Armageddon” reached number one on the iTunes album charts in 25 regions including Taiwan, Hong Kong, the US, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Norway, Brazil, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Chile, establishing a new record for the group. Additionally, they claimed the top spot on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart.
Furthermore, the eponymous title track “Armageddon” also entered the Top 10 on music platforms in South Korea like Melon, Bugs, and Genie, underscoring aespa’s widespread popularity and success.