The most sold physical albums in South Korea were albums released by artists under SM Entertainment's label, SM Entertainment.

Four SM Entertainment idol groups sold the most physical albums in 2014 according to the Gaon Charts, reported Star News on December 29. Male idol group EXO took the first two places on the list, while Super Junior followed in third place.

EXO's Korean-speaking subgroup EXO-K sold the most physical albums in 2014 . The group's "Overdose" came in first place, closely followed by EXO's Mandarin-speaking subgroup, EXO-M, for the Chinese version of the same album. Combined, EXO sold over 600,000 copies of "Overdose" in South Korea according to Gaon.

Super Junior came in third rank for physical sales with "Mamacita," which sold over 400,000 physical copies. TVXQ's "Tense" and Girls' Generation's "Mr.Mr" albums followed in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Despite SM Entertainment taking the top five spots in physical sales on the Gaon chart, no SM artist came within the top five in digital sales, streaming sales, or online downloads.  

Soyu X Junggigo's duet "Some" took first place on all three of the digital charts. Park Hyo Shin's "Wild Flower" took second. Taeyang, IU, and Raina x San-E's songs took the last three places, with varying order and songs on the three different charts.

Girls' Generation was the only girl group to rank in the top five of any of the four charts reported on.

Idol groups with large fan bases typically dominate physical sales in South Korea, while digital charts are based on music trends in South Korea.