''Only One'' is the seventh Korean studio album (fifteenth overall) by South Korean recording artist

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. It was released through

SM Entertainment SM Entertainment Co., Ltd. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1995 by Lee Soo-man. It is one of South Korea's largest entertainment companies and has been responsible for fostering and popularizing the car ...

on July 22, 2012. The record features songwriting contributions from various regional and international musicians, including Miriam and Olivia Nervo, SM composer

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, and Kim Tae-sung. The single " One Dream" was first released as a collaboration with

Henry Lau Henry Lau (; ; born October 11, 1989), known mononymously as Henry, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer based in South Korea and China. He debuted in 2008 as a member of Super Junior-M and launched his ...

and

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for the audition show ''

K-pop Star ''Survival Audition K-pop Star'' () is a South Korean reality competition television series where three entertainment/talent agencies in South Korea hold worldwide auditions to find the next potential K-pop stars. Preliminary auditions are held ...

'' in March 2012, while the titular single " Only One" and "The Shadow" were promoted after the release of the album. Commercially, ''Only One'' peaked at number two on the South Korean

Gaon Album Chart The Circle Album Chart, previously known as the Gaon Album Chart, is a record chart ranking the 100 most popular albums, extended plays and single albums in South Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...

, and was the 46th best-selling album of the year with sales of over 36,000 copies. Elsewhere in Asia, the album peaked at number 63 on the Japanese Oricon Album Chart and number nine on the Taiwanese

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East Asian Albums chart. The single "Only One" peaked at number two on the

Gaon Digital Chart The Circle Digital Chart, previously known as the Gaon Digital Chart, is the music industry standard record chart ranking the 200 most popular singles in South Korea. It provides rankings on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis, which is based on ...

upon the release of the album and received over 2,100,000 digital downloads, making it her highest charting and best-selling single on Gaon since its creation in 2010.

Background and release

On July 16, 2012, SM Entertainment announced that BoA will be coming back with her seventh Korean album titled ''Only One'', two years after the release of her sixth album '' Hurricane Venus''. For the choreography of her title track, "Only One", she enlisted the help of

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who also contributed on the choreography on her upcoming dance flick ''

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''. SM Entertainment also announced that BoA will be promoting the album via her own comeback show ''BoA 4354''. The number represents the days BoA has been in the entertainment industry. The album has two editions: regular and limited. Along with the album, fans can order different bundles that come with a photobook and/or poster. The limited edition of the release included a special packaging containing a 48-page photobook, while the regular edition contained a 24-page photobook. In 2013, BoA re-recorded the title track and "The Shadow" in Japanese and released it as her 32nd single titled under

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on February 27, 2013. The single peaked at number ten on the

Oricon Singles Chart The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard Single (music), singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track down ...

while the Japanese recording of "Only One" reached number eight on the ''Billboard'' Japan Hot 100. The original album became available in the Philippines on July 5, 2013.

Development and composition

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'' noted that the record served as "a departure from the sleek, fast-paced and beat-heavy dance music she has become synonymous with", particularly from her previous albums ''

'' (2009), ''

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'' (2010) and '' Hurricane Venus'' (2010). BoA elaborated that the creative process behind the record was to produce a relaxing and "comforting" album that could resonate with the general public, even if they were not necessarily fans of her. She acknowledged that even though electronic music styles remained trendy at the time, her personal preference for ''Only One'' nonetheless leaned towards a more "relaxed" and easygoing aesthetic. Although the album did not contain large amounts of electronic elements, BoA intended to craft the album's composition to appeal to those who still appreciated her electronic style, similar to what she showcased in ''Hurricane Venus''.

Commercial performance

The title track "Only One" was released digitally on July 22, 2012. It entered the ''Billboard''

K-pop Hot 100 The K-pop Hot 100 was a music singles chart in South Korea, launched by ''Billboard'' in conjunction with ''Billboard'' Korea () on August 25, 2011. It is the second Asian ''Billboard'' chart after the Japan Hot 100. The chart used the same multim ...

at number 12 and peaked at number 2 on its fourth week. It remained in the top 3 for four weeks. It stayed in the top of the Gaon charts for weeks, and has sold about 2 million singles as of October. The physical album was released on July 25, 2012, and sold over 28,000 copies on its first six days of release. Since August 2012, the album has sold more than 34,000 copies in total. The album also got more than 934,059 digital downloads according to Gaon Chart. The album is her best selling Korean album so far with the combination of digital and physical sales.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums BoA albums 2010s Korean-language albums SM Entertainment albums