According to Gaon Chart released today, ‘Mr. Simple’ that was released August 3 of last year sold a total of 502,830 copies by the end of March, hereby marking Super Junior to keep their position as album king for three years in a row.
Super Junior’s record of half-million sales is subsequently achieved by Kim Gun Mo’s 8th album ‘Hestory’ in 2003 and TVXQ’s fourth album ‘MIROTIC’ in 2008, it’s expected that Super Junior is to vitalize the stagnant music market. Marking the group to be the third artist to have achieved this album sales record.
The album topped all Korean music charts as well as various overseas charts including Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines. A new record was set by ‘BONAMANA’ topping the Taiwanese KKBOX chart for 63 weeks in a row, and now is continuing to reign as number one for 34 weeks in a row with ‘Mr. Simple.’
Super Junior gathered over a total of 500,000 audiences through their Asia Tour held over 3 times in 2008, 2009 and 2010. The group truly proved and lived up to their reputation as global hallyu king not only in album sales alone but also through successful sold out shows.
Super Junior was the first Korean group to hold a successful concert in Paris with 7,000 fans at Le Zenith de Paris on April 6. The group is continue their world tour to Shanghai on April 14 and Jakarta on April 28 and 29.
Several thousands of people gathered early Saturday morning at the Twin Plaza Hotel, Jakarta causing traffic jam in the area. The large crowds of people are K-Pop fans who have gathered in the early morning to stand in line to purchase tickets for Super Junior ‘Super Show 4’ concerts.
The Super Junior tickets for April 28 and 29 at Mata Elang International Stadium are priced from 500,000 Rp to 1,700,000 Rp. Even though prices were a bit higher considering the local income still there was a long line of waiting outside for their turn. There were even 12 people that passed out while waiting in line which caused even police officers to be dispatched on scene requesting to the hotel management to move ticket sales inside the hotel lobby, according to Jakarta Globe.
There were still hundreds of fans demanding for more tickets, although 17,000 tickets were completely sold out by 3PM. The reasons fans were more angered was due to scalpers. Each person was only allowed to purchase a limit of four tickets and scalpers were offering tickets at double the cost of original ticket.
As dissatisfied fans expressed their complaints event promoter ShowMaxx Entertainment issued an official apology statement. However due to the ‘high demand’ and popularity of Super Junior concert among fans it seems the number of scalpers are not likely to decrease.
Unlike other Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia has higher popularity of K-Pop rather than Korea dramas. They have even recently begun their own K-Pop audition program on air.
Indosiar started to air ‘Galaxy Superstar’ as a joint collaboration between Korea and Indonesia since February. The program started with over 10,000 participants in five major cities all over Indonesia.
On April 11, Super Junior revealed the teaser video for their third Japanese single, “Opera.” The one-minute video gives a glimpse into the group’s upcoming Japanese MV, which has the Super Junior members appear as masqueraders. “Opera” is scheduled for release on May 9.
Meanwhile, Super Junior is currently running their “Super Show 4 Super Junior World (SS4)” tour concert. Following a successful show in Paris, they will perform in Shanghai and Jakarta before spending time in Sydney for a concert. You can learn more about it here.
The dream of numerous ELFs came true on April 6th in France as Super Junior performed their first solo concert in Paris: the Super Show 4. Since Super Junior’s first performance in Europe with the “SM Town in Paris” last June, their fans were eagerly waiting for their next show in France. The French Soompi team was there to review this amazing concert!
The concert began promptly at 8:00PM, and ELFs switched on their light sticks, transforming the place into a beautiful blue sea. As Super Junior stepped on stage with the first notes of “Superman”, the crowd cheerfully stood up. With a moving stage and large screens, the band had not minimized their efforts to charm their French and European audience.
The group then moved on to “Opera” and a rock version of “Bonamana” before introducing themselves in French. Ryeowook sang a few notes of the famous song “Aux Champs Elysées,” and Siwon timidly admitted “I missed you!”
After wrapping up their well-known title “Rokkugo”, the members performed some special stages. Sungmin, Kyuhyun and Ryeowook had chosen to perform American songs. As Sungmin was singing Ne-Yo’s “One in a Million”, Kyuhyun charmed the fans with Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely”; and Ryeowook captivated the crowd with the highly famous Maroon 5’s “Moves Like Jagger”.
Eunhyuk surprised everyone while trying to imitate Zinédine Zidane, the French singers Raphaël and Christophe Maé, and even Mona Lisa. He then performed “What’s My Name?” followed by Leeteuk who walked down to the crowd to give dozens of roses to fans.
Then the members all came back to the stage and kicked into their famous songs “Acha”, “Mister Simple” and “Don't Don”; before giving the stage to their special guest The Grace, who performed “One More Chance”.
Moving into a more spiritual mood, Siwon stepped on stage with his guitar to perform “Your Grace is Enough.” With images of a church on large screens, he shared his faith in God to the audience. Captivating the fans with his powerful voice, Yesung set up an emotional mood with the ballad “For One Day”. Yet the atmosphere completely changed when Donghae and Eunhyuk jumped into "Oppa Oppa," driving the crowd crazy.
On "Our Love," thousands of fans waved large signs “We love you Super Junior” in different languages, creating a unique moment with their idols. The members were moved, and Leeteuk even shed tears, touched by their gesture.
The public refused to let the show draw to a close and chanted "encore!" The band stepped again on stage to perform the final songs “Sorry Sorry” and “Miracle”. Before leaving, the members addressed one last message to the crowd. The emotion was intense as the audience knew the show was ending after 3h40 of amazing stages.
Ryeowook, moved by the audience, sang again some notes of "Au Champs Elysées," and Kyuhyun asked fans, “Who wants to have a drink with me?” Yesung shouted "I love you! I will go back to Korea tomorrow. Let’s meet there!" Eunhyuk added, "Today you fall in love with us, didn’t you? Scream if you did!" Donghae said, "Yesterday night I didn’t sleep well. I dreamt that the concert hall was empty. I am really moved to see how many of you are here tonight. An eleven-hour trip is not that long, I will come again!”
Leeteuk finally announced the last song, "We felt all your love for us tonight, thank you. I love you!” On the first notes of the last song, he bowed several times, expressing respect for his fans.
More than a simple concert, every fan had the chance to live a unique experience during the numerous special stages. Every performance was animated by short movies broadcasted on large screens, in which the members were disguised into famous characters or parodying the Korean movie “Sunny”.
The nine boys, famous for their great fan service, didn’t disappoint their fans: walks in the crowd, distribution of roses, and even a topless Siwon. The crowd got even more captivated when Siwon and Eunhyuk chose their “wife” in the audience and brought them on stage. Eunhyuk had been categorical: his ideal wife has to be blond, sexy, and good at dancing!
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