''One of a Kind'' is the first

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n singer-songwriter and rapper

G-Dragon Kwon Ji-yong (; born August 18, 1988), also known by his stage name G-Dragon (지드래곤), is a South Korean rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer, known as the " King of K-pop". G-Dragon is the recipi ...

. It was released on September 15, 2012, digitally, and September 18 physically, through

YG Entertainment YG Entertainment Inc. () is a South Korean multinational entertainment agency established in 1996 by Yang Hyun-suk. The company operates as a record label, talent agency, music production company, event management and concert production compa ...

. The EP consists of seven songs all written or co-written, and co-composed by G-Dragon himself. Upon release, the album was a commercial success in South Korea. It peaked atop the

Gaon Albums 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 Korea based on their pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, previously know ...

and on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' World Albums Chart. The EP also entered the ''Billboard'' 200 peaking at number 161, making G-Dragon the first Korean soloist with a Korean-language album to enter that chart. As of 2017, the album has sold over 260,000 copies in his native country, making it the highest selling album by a Korean soloist since the release of his debut album ''

Heartbreaker Heartbreaker(s) or The Heart Breaker(s) may refer to: Film and television *''The Heart Breakers'', a 1916 film starring Andrew Arbuckle *''The Heart Breaker'', a 1925 film directed by Benjamin Stoloff * ''Heartbreaker'' (1983 film), an American f ...

'' (2009).

Release and promotion

The lead single from the EP, " One of a Kind", was released on August 24. "

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" and "

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" were later released as second and third singles off the EP. Originally, the song "Without You" had a featuring first credited as "? from YG New Girl Group", when it was first announced that YG was starting a new girl group. Almost four years after the EP was released, the featuring vocals were revealed to be

Rosé A rosé () is a type of wine that incorporates some of the color from the grape skins, but not enough to qualify it as a red wine. It may be the oldest known type of wine, as it is the most straightforward to make with the skin contact method. ...

from said new girl group,

Blackpink Blackpink (, commonly stylized in all caps or as BLɅϽKPIИK) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, consisting of members Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. The group debuted in August 2016 with their single album ''Square ...

. G-Dragon held a live-stream to countdown to and celebrate the release of the EP through

Naver Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to in ...

's Line TV, with guests Lydia Paek,

Taeyang Dong Young-bae (; born May 18, 1988), better known by his stage names Taeyang (meaning "sun" in Korean) and SOL (when performing in Japan), is a South Korean singer, songwriter and dancer. After appearing in Jinusean's music video "A-yo", Taey ...

, producer Choice37, and rapper-producer

Tablo Daniel Armand Lee (Korean: Lee Seon-woong; Hangul: 이선웅; born July 22, 1980), better known by his stage name Tablo (Hangul: 타블로), is a Korean-Canadian hip hop recording artist, lyricist, composer and record producer. Tablo is best k ...

Epik High Epik High (Hangul: 에픽하이) is a South Korean hip hop trio formed in 2001, composed of Tablo, Mithra Jin, and DJ Tukutz. Primarily based in Seoul, the group signed with Woollim Entertainment and released their first two studio albums, ''M ...

. G-Dragon embarked on his first world tour, the

One of a Kind World Tour The One of a Kind World Tour was the first headlining concert tour by South Korean singer and rapper G-Dragon, in support of his first EP One of a Kind (G-Dragon EP), ''One of a Kind'' (2012). The tour visited 9 countries and 13 cities in 2013, ga ...

, in support of the EP which marked the first time for a Korean soloist to hold a Japanese dome-arena tour. Many of his YG label-mates made special guest appearances on various stops throughout the tour, including his bandmates

Big Bang The Big Bang event is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models of the Big Bang explain the evolution of the observable universe from the ...

, as well as

2NE1 2NE1 (, ) was a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment, which was active between 2009 and 2016. The group was composed of four members: Bom, CL, Dara, and Minzy. Known for breaking typical stereotypes of K-pop, musical experiment ...

Lee Hi Lee Ha-yi (; born September 23, 1996), known by her stage name Lee Hi, is a South Korean singer and songwriter. She first garnered attention as the runner-up of ''K-pop Star 1''. She debuted with single "1, 2, 3, 4" on October 28, 2012 and reac ...

, and

Akdong Musician AKMU ( ko, 악뮤), also known as Akdong Musician ( ko, 악동뮤지션), is a South Korean sibling duo consisting of Lee Chan-hyuk and Lee Su-hyun (singer, born 1999), Lee Su-hyun who debuted under YG Entertainment in April 2014 with studio al ...

. The tour began on March 30 and concluded on September 1, 2013, at

Olympic Gymnastics Arena The Olympic Gymnastics Arena (), also known as the KSPO Dome since 2018, is an indoor arena located within the Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea. It has a capacity of 15,000 and can be extended upto 20,000. It was constructed between 31 Aug ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Critical reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' reviewer David Jeffries gave the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, remarking while "few others would have the daring or money for his flashy wardrobe, -Dragondeserves that swagger due to his talent as well". Jeffries complimented the production in the tracks " One of a Kind" and "

", and compared the record to

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

's music, writing that the rapper took his "'little monster" attitude and did "some envelope pushing" with the EP. Korean online magazine ''

IZM ''IZM'' () is a South Korean online magazine that publishes pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ...

'' included ''One of a Kind'' in their list of best albums of 2012, highlighting the variety of genres heard in the album, which included

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

, hip hop and acoustic. ''IZM'' complimented G-Dragon's artistic direction and felt that the album brought the "recovery of swag and madness."

Commercial performance

''One of a Kind'' charted at number one on the

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 Korea based on their Record sales, pure sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, pr ...

and became the best selling album of September, with 171,512 copies sold. By the end of the year the EP had sold 204,326 copies, becoming the fourth best-selling album of 2012. In 2013, the album sold additional 45,332 copies, and was the 43rd best selling album of the year. In Taiwan, the album went platinum with over 10,000 copies sold. In the United States, the album entered the ''

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at number 161, making G-Dragon the fourth Korean artist to enter the chart. ''One of a Kind'' also topped the ''Billboard'' World Albums chart and peaked at number six on the Heatseekers chart. With only one day of sales, the songs from the album sold over 1 million digital copies combined, and on the second week the songs sold 1.7 million copies. As of August 2016, the album and its songs has sold over 8.2 million copies.

Accolades

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Monthly charts

Year-end charts

Sales and certifications

Release history

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control G-Dragon albums 2012 EPs YG Entertainment EPs Korean-language EPs Albums produced by G-Dragon Albums produced by Teddy Park