SM Entertainment's rookie boy group RIIZE, one of two K-Pop groups debuted in 2023 to sell 1 million copies of their debut album alongside ZEROBASEONE, is now under suspicion of "sajaegi". 

Previously in September of 2023, RIIZE's debut single album 'Get A Guitar' earned the title of a 'Million-Selling' album in terms of first-week sales, achieving approximately 1,016,8xx copies in sales from September 4 through September 10. 

According to Circle Chart's monthly album sales chart from September of 2023, 'Get A Guitar' had sold a total of 1,039,600 copies by the end of that month. 

However, netizens recently noticed that RIIZE's 'Get A Guitar' had actually decreased in sales since September, according to the monthly Circle Chart for December, which also reflects each album's yearly sales. According to the December count, 'Get A Guitar' had sold a total of 1,038,084 copies since its release. 

What didn't make sense for netizens was that since their debut, RIIZE has thus far held over 60 events which require fans to purchase albums for special privileges or benefits, such as in-person fan signs/fan calls and lucky draw events.

All of these events, including ones announced after RIIZE had wrapped up promotions for "Get A Guitar" and released new singles such as "Talk Saxy" and "Love 119", required fans to purchase RIIZE's debut single album, 'Get A Guitar'. 

And yet, instead of adding to RIIZE's yearly album sales record, these events were lowering the group's sales numbers.

What does this mean?

It's not unusual or illegal for K-Pop artists and their companies, in partnership with album distributors, to "place orders of albums in advance" with special events in mind. This allows album distributors/sellers to order more stocks than they would typically expect to sell, announce fan signs or lucky draw events that will take place later in time in advance, and have fans bulk purchase large amounts of albums within the first week (or first few weeks) of an album's release, although the albums themselves may not be distributed physically until a later point in time. 

However, when K-Pop artists typically do this, they make sure to "fill the quota" before wrapping up promotions for that specific album. They do this by holding the necessary amount of special events and ensuring that the albums ordered and sold "in advance" accurately reflect the actual sales. 

But in the case of RIIZE, netizens noticed several problems: 1) the fact that the boy group "failed to fill the quota" that they had intended to achieve, instead resulting in Circle Chart recording a decrease in overall album sales; 2) the group beginning promotions for new songs and holding events associated with those new promotions, but with the old album 'Get A Guitar'; and 3) boasting the title of 'Million-Sellers' when in fact, it is difficult to prove that the group would have sold a million copies of their debut album in first-week sales without the "advance order" trick. 

In response to the suspicions currently garnering attention via various online communities, netizens commented, 

"SM pulled a fast one to build hype for RIIZE so they could have the 'Million-Seller' title, but in the end, we won't ever know if they were actually capable of selling a million albums just with their debut..."

"In the end, all of those awards that they got, all of that attention they've been getting as the 'rising rookies', was all fabricated lies."

"If you're going to cheat, you need to make sure you don't get caught!"

"They should feel ashamed about being called 'Million-Sellers'. They barely met that 1 million quota by holding 60+ fan events even after they finished promotions and released new music."

"They shouldn't be getting the 'Best Rookie Award', they should be getting the 'Best Sajaegi Award'."

"SM tries so hard to market itself as the top company in K-Pop, but in reality, it can't compete with others unless it uses cheap methods..."

"I'm laughing so hard thinking of those days when RIIZE fans bashed other rookie boy group fandoms for 'trash album sales'."

What do you think of the ongoing suspicions?