Le Sserafim was highest grossing rookie artist in first half of 2023 in Japan, Oricon says

Girl group Le Sserafim [SOURCE MUSIC]

Girl group Le Sserafim was the highest-grossing rookie artist in the first half of 2023 in Japan, according to Japanese music statistics company Oricon on Thursday.

Oricon's 2023 first half of the year rank announced Thursday showed that Le Sserafim achieved total revenue of 11.8 billion yen ($81 million) between Dec. 12 last year and June 11 of this year, topping the rookie artist sales rank on the first half of 2023.

"We would like to thank everyone who listened to our music and to Fearnot, who always supports us," Le Sserafim said in a press release.

Fearnot is the girl group's fandom name.

"We hope you look forward to 'Unforgiven,' our second Japanese single that will drop on August 23."

Le Sserafim was also the first female rookie artist ever to surpass the 10 billion yen revenue mark, according to Oricon.

Oricon's rookie artist sales rank, which first began in 2018, is aggregated with single, album, DVD sales and streaming revenues.

The girl group's Japanese debut single, "Fearless," was the number one contributor to the record, surpassing 100 million streams as of April 10, according to Le Sserafim's agency Source Music.

Le Sserafim announced recently that the group will hold its first-ever solo tour, "Flame Rises," with performances at the Jamsil Gymnasium in Songpa District, southern Seoul, on Aug. 12 and 13.

The girl group will also perform in Aichi, Tokyo and Osaka in Japan in late August and September, followed by performances in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Thailand and more.

To find out more about Le Sserafim, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]