HYBE Faces Allegations of Manipulating Album Sales for ENHYPEN, TXT, and LE SSERAFIM as Netizens Claim the Label Downplayed NewJeans' Success in Japan

Following the September 25th broadcast of CBS’s "Kim Hyun Jung’s News Show," a Seoul Newspaper reporter revealed that HYBE had requested a revision of an article about NewJeans' Tokyo Dome concert. The reporter claimed, "They made an illogical suggestion to distort and downplay the artist’s achievements."

This revelation caught the attention of netizens, especially as NewJeans' Tokyo Dome concert featured standout moments, including Hanni's soulful rendition of "Aoi Sangoshou" by Seiko Matsuda, which captivated the audience.

2024 aoi sangosho by hanni pham viral impact online

[a thread 🧵]pic.twitter.com/7lAUrMMHsc

— 🍪 (@njchocochip) July 7, 2024

she got shy when her aoi sangoshou performance suddenly appeared on screen😆😅

pic.twitter.com/iSc0B8dCmB

— 🐰 (@_hannibunch) August 17, 2024

HYBE quickly defended itself against the accusations, stating the correction was due to an error in the article, which reported that "over 1.02 million albums were sold in Japan alone," when, in fact, only around 50,000 were sold in Japan, and the majority—over 900,000—were sold in Korea. HYBE asserted, "There’s absolutely no reason for us to speak negatively about NewJeans’ achievements."

However, HYBE's defense sparked skepticism among viewers, especially considering the company's recent controversy involving leaked medical and pre-debut videos of NewJeans. HYBE’s statement, "This is a serious violation of journalistic ethics," didn’t resonate well with some fans.

#DISPATCH [D-EYE] article Translation

Evaluation of the debut of the N Team (now #NewJeans) on March 27, 2021.

Seven trainees from #SourceMusic stood in front of the camera. The assignment song is "Attention." Minji, Hanni, Danielle, Haerin, Hyein, OO, and △△ competed to… pic.twitter.com/aahcTgVTwt

— KoreadeoK (@koreadeok) July 23, 2024

As a result, netizens are now discussing NewJeans' success in Japan, with some questioning HYBE’s handling of the situation. The discourse has even extended to other HYBE artists, as rumors circulate about whether the company is paying for streams to inflate its artists' numbers.

• Company stans here are wild. Newjeans sold 100k in Japan in June and hybe announced that they only sold 38k
• So that means Newjeans has lower sales than both Lesserafim and aespa? If that's the case how sure are we that Newjeans streams are true?
• Hybe bought an American public relations company that degraded Amber's name in the fight between Johnny Depp and Amber! And now they work for Hybe to degrade Newjeans!
• So if they faked Newjeans' album sale they definitely faked Enhypen, TXT and Lesserafim albums sales too. No wonder why their popularity and album sales aren't balanced.
  • They've done payola during Lesserafim debut song in Inkigayo so there's no doubt others did too
• HYBE is trying to undermine Newjeans popularity before they disband them...just like what they did before they disbanded GFriend back then
• Well, so now it's unethical now that they were the ones being exposed but they didn't mind posting Newjeans predebut clips
• My only question is after all of this how will they continue to work with Hybe/Ador. Whether MHJ stays or not, how will everyone work together in the future???

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