GISELLE aka Aerichandesu, Ningning, Karina, Winter of aespa at the Billboard Women in Music 2025 held at the YouTube Theater on March 29, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images)
Billboard via Getty Images
After aespa sold one million-plus albums in a week, SM Entertainment stock earned a slight bump on Friday, September 12, 2025, and ended the week solidly in the black.
With a positive week on the Korean Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (KOSDAQ) trading board, SM Entertainment’s stock closed at 143,200 Korean won (approximately $102.83), gaining 400 KRW (about 29 cents), to deliver a 0.28% increase for the day and ultimately close the week up 2.21%
aespa’s Rich Man Sells One Million-Plus After New Capitol Music Deal, Remixes Released
Girl group aespa is one of SM Entertainment’s cornerstone artists these days with their highly anticipated new EP Rich Man – The 6th Mini Album, released last Friday, September 5, hitting a milestone sales record among their K-pop peers.
According to South Korea’s real-time album sales website Hanteo Chart, aespa’s Rich Man sold 1,088,340 physical copies globally in just a week. Per reports, this is the top-selling album by any female K-pop act in 2025 as well as the 11th-largest first-week sales among all K-pop artists this year.
On Rich Man’s release day, Capitol Music Group announced aespa had signed a new U.S. label deal with Capitol in partnership with SM. Early industry predictions have Rich Man likely to debut within the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 with around 28,000 units, which, if forecasts prove accurate, will be aespa’s first Top 10 album since 2023.
The 30 Under 30 – Forbes Asia alum previously had signed with Warner Records. However, that deal seems to have ended in 2023 as aespa’s album releases from then until now took a hit in the States with delayed U.S. releases. Things seem to be back in working order with Rich Man released globally on September 5 to make for maximum impact around the world.
To keep the momentum going, aespa also dropped two new versions of the album’s title track: an English version of “Rich Man” as well as a remix featuring Iranian-Dutch singer Sevdaliza.
NCT WISH: Another Million-Seller for SM
While aespa ended this week at the million mark, SM Entertainment’s newest boy band NCT WISH also hit a million in sales with their latest release earlier this week.
The Japanese-Korean boy band saw COLOR – The Third Mini Album sell a remarkable 1,395,217 copies, per Hanteo. According to reports, that’s the seventh-largest first-week sales total among 2025 K-pop releases to establish the young group as a substantial sales force.
Looking Ahead for SM: Hearts2Hearts, EXO, SMNTR25
CHANYEOL, SUHO and KAI of EXO perform at SMTOWN Live 2025 Concert in Los Angeles
SM Entertainment
Beyond the aespa win, SM Entertainment hinted at upcoming plans for their roster this week.
On September 10, SM Entertainment confirmed rumors that the label’s youngest act, Hearts2Hearts, is preparing to release new music in October. So far, the eight-member girl group has only released singles; the upcoming release is reportedly an EP that can showcase more of the act’s versatility.
An unexpected but highly welcomed comeback also dropped this past week when EXO member KAI revealed during the final U.S. stop of his KAION Solo Tour that his group was planning to return soon and was planning for an overseas tour.
In a remarkably casual manner, the “Rover” singer dropped some major news to a sold-out audience at The Theater at MSG in New York City. “Because I had so much fun on this U.S. tour,” he shared to a screaming crowd. “Once the EXO activities begin, I’ll make sure bring everyone back.”
The next day, EXO’s official accounts on social media posted an intriguing teaser photo captioned with “DECEMBER, 2025,” making fans think a reunion is on its way before the year’s end.
In the meantime, the EXO members are busy with leader Suho releasing his 4th Mini Album ‘Who Are You’ on September 22, while Chanyeol drops his 1st EP for the Japanese market on October 22.
SM Entertainment has also shared plans for new music this year from more of its artists including TVXQ!’s U-Know and Max Changmin, Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, SHINee’s Minho, Red Velvet, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, WayV, RIIZE and more.
SM’s jump on the KOSDAQ continues its momentum shown in 2025 so far. SM Entertainment stock is up 100.28% year-to-date.