Korea’s national music chart Gaon published the charts for May ten days ago. Here’s a look at how the local indie music managed during the month.

Gaon Korean Album Chart

Plenty of excellent albums were released during May and many of the indie releases did show up on Gaon’s weekly Korean album chart. However, only 1 release sold enough to make it to the top 100 of Gaon’s Korean album chart for May. Although his identity had yet to be revealed, Guckkasten vocalist Ha Hyun Woo‘s participation as “Music General” on King of Mask Singer (복면가왕) continued to spur the sales of Guckkasten’s second album.

The albums that did appear on the album chart during the month, but didn’t sell enough to qualify for the monthly chart of May (i.e. less than 480 copies) were the following:

Roughly half of the indie titles that showed up on Gaon’s Korean album chart during May were new entries. There was Bulssazo bassist nuh‘s solo debut, Love X Stereo‘s mini album sequel, Idiotape‘s cover EP, Saltnpaper‘s 2CD EP, Gonne Choi‘s 4th EP, the 2nd full-length albums from The Electriceels and April 2nd, O.When‘s 1st EP, and Jun Bum Sun and the Yangban‘s 2nd full-length album released back in March.

Gaon Korean Digital Chart

Gaon’s digital chart combines the results of Gaon’s download, streaming and background music charts. Few indie songs make the joint chart, but all new songs to enter any of the related charts are added to Indieful ROK’s Gaon Digital 2016 YouTube playlist.

The only newcomer on the Korean digital chart of May was “안아줘” from Jung Joonil of Mate. The song was the lead track on Jung Joonil’s first solo album, released in November 2011, but this is the first time it has reached the top 100 of Gaon’s digital chart. The reason appears to be that the song was covered by BTOB‘s Sungjae on popular TV show We Got Married.

No other Korean indie songs appeared on the weekly digital chart during the month of May.

Gaon Korean Download Chart

The indie songs that made it to the top 100 of Gaon’s Korean download chart for May were roughly the same as those that qualified for the overall digital chart, only short of one song from Jang Beom June.

No other Korean indie songs appeared on the weekly download chart during the month of May.

Gaon Korean Streaming Chart

Gaon’s Korean streaming chart for May contained all the same songs as the overall digital chart with the same relative order.

In addition to the songs above, Jang Beom June’s “봄비” appeared on Gaon’s streaming chart the first week of May.

Gaon BGM Chart

Gaon’s background music chart has started to wear thin on Korean indie entries, so also during May. A surprising new entry to the top 100 was Kim Yuna‘s title track contribution to the soundtrack of 2001 movie One Fine Spring Day.

Unlike the other digital charts, the BGM chart does not separate foreign and Korean entries.

Additionally, Kim Yuna’s April single “키리에”, Afternight Project’s “사랑이 올까요“, Tarin’s “그 이유가 내겐 아픔이었네“, and Rose Motel‘s “봉숙이” appeared on the weekly BGM chart during the month of May. The renewed interest in Rose Motel’s “봉숙이” from 2011 appears a likely consequence of Big Brain‘s Yoon Hong Hyun covering it on the episode of King of Mask Singer broadcast on May 29.

Gaon Mobile Chart

Although Jung Joonil’s “안아줘” managed to enter the top 100 of all of Gaon’s charts listing songs, it was on the mobile ringback tone chart that it first appeared. Even with 2 new entries on theMay charts, Gaon’s mobile charts kept fewer Korean indie songs in the top 100 than what is usually the case.

Additionally Acourve‘s “하고 싶은 말“, Busker Busker‘s “벚꽃 엔딩“, Every Single Day‘s “이웃집 마녀”, Vanilla Acoustic‘s “Blind Date”, and Okdal’s “스케치북” appeared on the weekly mobile charts during May.

Gaon Korean Noraebang Chart

No longer as static as it once was, the Korean noraebang chart of May saw relatively many changes happen much like the month prior.

Additionally, Cherry Filter‘s “낭만 고양이“, and Jung Joonil’s “고백” both appeared on the weekly Gaon noraebang chart during the month of April.