X1 breaks first week sales record

Boy band X1 sold 520,000 copies of their debut EP, Korea’s album sales tracker Hanteo Chart said on Tuesday.

According to Hanteo, X1’s debut EP “Flight: Quantum Leap” sold 524,007 copies within the first week of its release, from Aug. 27 to Sept. 1.

“X1 is the first boy band to sell more than a half a million copies of their debut album,” said their entertainment agency Swing Entertainment.

The boy band had already sold 268,000 copies on the first day of its debut alone, signaling a smooth start to their career, despite ongoing controversies surrounding how the group was formed.

Although X1 went ahead with their debut last week, the producers of “Produce X 101” - the Mnet audition show that put the group together - are currently under police investigation for possible fabrication of fan vote results for the show’s finale.

Police raided the offices of CJ ENM last month, and will be looking into whether the channel manipulated the results of other seasons of the show as well.

By Yoon So-yeon