The music industry, which briefly caught its breath due to the Chuseok holiday and the Asian Games, is plunging back into fierce competition this autumn.

Following teams from the so-called "Big 4" agencies—HYBE, SM, JYP, and YG—a diverse lineup of popular idol groups including IVE, ATEEZ, PLAVE, and RESCENE are rolling out new albums in succession, setting the stage for an intense comeback battle this fall.

Right away on October 12, NCT WISH, PLAVE, ZEROBASEONE's Sung Hanbin, and Xdinary Heroes will launch their activities simultaneously.

Rookie boy group A2O SOUL and girl group A2O LITE, produced by Lee Soo-man—who left SM Entertainment to establish A2O Entertainment—will also make their first appearance.

They are scheduled to hold their debut show on October 12 and release their respective digital singles a day later on October 13.

On October 19, SEVENTEEN's Jeonghan and Joshua along with NMIXX will make their comebacks, followed by BABYMONSTER on October 23.

On October 26, IVE, ILLIT, and RIIZE will drop new albums on the same day.

AND2BLE has signaled its first comeback by scheduling the release of its second mini-album for October 27.

Popular groups will continue to make comebacks in a row next month.

TWS on November 2 and RESCENE on November 3 will make back-to-back comebacks, while ATEEZ on November 13 and TOMORROW X TOGETHER on November 16 will release new albums.

ENHYPEN is also preparing to release a new record sometime in November.

In particular, attention is focused on RESCENE as this is their first release since gaining popularity with their climbing track "LOVE ATTACK" and remake song "Pretty Girl."

This is also ATEEZ's first album release following the success of "BAD," which has become one of the team's signature songs.

Music industry insiders analyze that the concentration of comebacks in October and November is a strategic choice that avoids holiday and Asian Games schedules while keeping year-end award ceremonies and next year's world tours in mind.

The comebacks of major idol groups are expected to have a positive impact on the physical album market as well.

According to Circle Chart, cumulative physical album sales in the first half of this year reached approximately 55 million copies, an increase of about 11 million copies compared to the same period last year.

This is a level comparable to the first half of 2023, when annual album sales surpassed 100 million copies.

Consequently, possibilities are being raised that annual sales could exceed 100 million copies once again driven by the second-half comebacks of major artists.

Pop music critic Lim Hee-yoon noted, "Because K-pop is a genre where physical albums sell in large quantities, simultaneous comebacks by major artists are highly likely to have a positive effect on annual album sales tallies, which will also lead to increased revenue for each agency."

(Photo courtesy of Pledis, SM, YG, and JYP Entertainment, Yonhap News)