# Circle Chart

The Circle Chart (Korean: 써클차트; RR: Sseokeul-chateu), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (Korean: 가온차트; RR: Gaon-chateu), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. Founded in 2010, it is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

## History

Gaon Chart was launched in February 2010 by the Korea Music Content Association, under the sponsorship of the South Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, with the aim to create a domestic national chart similar to the Billboard charts of the United States and the Oricon charts of Japan. The word gaon, which means 'middle' or 'center' in Korean, was chosen to represent fairness and reliability. The chart started tracking sales from the beginning of that year. A small awards ceremony was held in conjunction with the launch ceremony on February 23, at the Westin Chosun hotel in Seoul. Girl group Girls' Generation was awarded the Top Artist of January, boy band Super Junior won Best Album of 2009, and Jo Kwon and Ga-in's "We Fell In Love" won Best Weekly Mobile Ringtone.
In February 2011, Gaon published online and offline album sales information for 2010, including a detailed breakdown of online chart data. This was the first time that offline album sales had been released since 2008 when the Music Industry Association of Korea stopped compiling data.
On July 7, 2022, the Gaon Chart was rebranded as Circle Chart. A new Global K-pop Chart was introduced alongside the retention of existing charts. The Gaon Chart Music Awards were also rebranded to the Circle Chart Awards.

## Music charts
### Song charts

| Chart title | Chart type | Number of positions | Ranking methodology |
| Global K-pop Chart | streaming | 200 | Worldwide K-pop streaming usage |
| Digital Chart | streaming + download + background music + V Coloring sales | 200 | South Korea standard song popularity chart |
| Streaming Chart | streaming | 200 | Streaming usage volume in South Korea One of four component charts of the Digital Chart |
| Download Chart | download | 200 | Download sales volume in South Korea One of four component charts of the Digital Chart |
| BGM Chart | background music | 200 | Background music sales volume in South Korea One of four component charts of the Digital Chart |
| V Coloring Chart | video ringback tones | 100 | V Coloring app usage volume in South Korea One of four component charts of the Digital Chart |

### Album charts

| Chart title | Number of positions | Ranking methodology |
| Album Chart | 100 | Album distribution volume (tape, LP, CD, USB, KiT, platform album, etc.) |
| Retail Album Chart | 50 | Total sales of offline albums at retail stores (tape, LP, CD, USB, KiT, platform album, etc.) |

### Other music charts

| Chart title | Number of positions | Ranking methodology |
| Singing Room Chart | 200 | Number of times song played in noraebang |
| Bell Chart | 100 | Ranking of ringtones of South Korea mobile carriers |
| Ring Chart | 100 | Ranking of ringtones of South Korea mobile carriers |

## Social charts

The Circle Social Chart is a weekly chart that ranks the top 50 most popular K-pop artists using data from YouTube, Mubeat, Higher, and Keytalk AI.
The Gaon Weibo Chart was a weekly chart that ranked the top 10 most popular K-pop groups and the top 30 most popular individual K-pop artists in China using data from Weibo.

## Certification

In April 2018, Korea Music Content Association introduced music recording certifications for albums, downloads and streaming. Album certifications are awarded based on shipment figures provided by record labels and distributors. Download and streaming certifications are awarded to songs based on online data provided by web-based music providers. Albums and songs released on or after January 1, 2018, are eligible for certification.

### Album

Thresholds per award :
| Platinum | 2× Platinum | 3× Platinum | Million | 2× Million |
| 250,000 | 500,000 | 750,000 | 1,000,000 | 2,000,000 |

### Download

Thresholds per award :
| Platinum | 2× Platinum | 3× Platinum | Diamond |
| 2,500,000 | 5,000,000 | 7,500,000 | 10,000,000 |

### Streaming

Thresholds per award :
| Platinum | 2× Platinum | 3× Platinum | Billion |
| 100,000,000 | 200,000,000 | 300,000,000 | 1,000,000,000 |

## Awards

* Circle Chart Music Awards