SEVENTEEN Accused of Faking Album Sales as Viral Proof Sparks Strong Reactions

SEVENTEEN is facing backlash amid renewed allegations involving HYBE and album sales manipulation.

The controversy began when court documents from HYBE’s ongoing legal battle with former ADOR CEO Min Hee Jin revealed claims that around 500,000 albums were returned after 650,000 were reported sold by an unnamed group. This sparked accusations of sajaegi, or artificial inflation of album sales, a charge HYBE has faced before.

Fans quickly connected these allegations to SEVENTEEN, who have recorded massive album sales. Their album FML is currently the best-selling K-pop album ever, with Seventeenth Heaven holding second place.

Some pointed to images circulating online showing large numbers of SEVENTEEN’s 17 Is Right Here albums seemingly discarded.

“We know who this is” — @solmerv

“Court documents show that HYBE returned 500K albums out of 650K sales figure for one of their groups” — @theKwave2

However, these photos actually highlight a different issue in K-pop album culture. Fans often use albums as raffle entries for fan events, and the albums include collectible photocards in many varieties. This leads to album waste, as seen in the photos where photocards are taken out and the rest of the albums are set aside for recycling or trash.

“SEVENTEEN’s New Album Thrown Away In Bulk On The Streets Of Japan” — Koreaboo video embed

Fans quickly defended SEVENTEEN, clarifying the situation and disputing the sales inflation claims.

“Out of the 650k sales figure. The last time seventeen had an album that sold that much was in 2018, pre acquisition. If your gonna drag at least be intelligent” — @TwiloTwig

“the boxes are empty, so is your head.” — @semangkukuji

As the situation unfolded, it became clear the discarded albums are not proof of sales manipulation but rather a result of fan behavior and album packaging practices. SEVENTEEN’s name remains defended amid these resurfaced allegations against HYBE.