G-Dragon's Four Solo Records: From 'Heartbreaker' to 'KWON JI YONG'

Four records carry G-Dragon’s name alone, and they came out between 2009 and 2017. The first was a full-length album, the second a mini album, the third a full-length album again, and the fourth arrived on a USB stick rather than a CD.

The Korea Herald wrote that G-Dragon debuted in 2006 as a member of BIGBANG under YG Entertainment. What follows sets out the four solo records that came after it — their release dates, their formats, and what the reporting of the day recorded.

18 August 2009: the debut record Heartbreaker

Star News reported that on 18 August 2009 G-Dragon put the whole of his debut record ‘Heartbreaker’ on online music services. The same article reported that the title track’s music video, published at around 1 p.m. that day on the YG TV channel on the online video service GomTV, drew more than 350,000 views in three hours.

The same outlet counted again two weeks later. At 10.33 a.m. on 4 September, the 18th day after the video went up, it stood at 4,979,774 views, and GomTV named G-Dragon its artist of the month for September. That article also recorded that ‘Heartbreaker’ reached number one on KBS 2TV’s music programme Music Bank on 28 August.

The Korea Herald wrote in 2025 that this first full-length album, released in 2009, won album of the year at that year’s Mnet Asian Music Awards.

September 2012: the first mini album One Of A Kind

On 3 September 2012 Kukinews reported that the streaming release of G-Dragon’s first mini album ‘One Of A Kind’ would come on 15 September and the physical album on 18 September. The two dates stood three days apart, and the record carried seven tracks.

The same article reported that the title track was ‘Crayon’, a name made from ‘CRAZY’ and ‘G-DRAGON’ and short for ‘CRAZY ON’.

September 2013: the second full-length album COUP D’ETAT

YG Entertainment’s own notice set the release of G-Dragon’s second full-length album COUP D’ETAT for 13 September 2013. The streaming release came in two parts: Part 1 at noon on 2 September and Part 2 at noon on 5 September. The album came in BLACK and RED editions, each holding one CD, a booklet, a gallery ticket and a poster.

The Korea Herald wrote in 2025 that this album made G-Dragon one of the first K-pop acts to land multiple entries on the Billboard 200.

The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that at the 2013 MAMA he took best music video for ‘쿠데타 (Coup D’etat)’, the first time he had won in that category, and added best dance performance male solo, male artist of the year and artist of the year, four in all.

8 June 2017: KWON JI YONG, on a USB stick

The Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that G-Dragon released his new solo album ‘KWON JI YONG’ at 6 p.m. on 8 June 2017. The same article wrote that he had tried something new by putting the offline album on a USB stick rather than on a CD. The record carried five tracks in all, among them the intro track ‘권지용 (Middle Fingers-Up)’ and ‘무제 (Untitled)’.

Ten days later it was settled how the record would be counted. Star News reported on 19 June 2017 that Gaon Chart judged the USB to be a transmission under copyright law — that is, a download service — and would count it on its digital and download charts rather than on its album chart.

The Korea Herald wrote in 2025 that ‘KWON JI YONG’, unveiled in 2017, topped the Billboard World Albums chart.

Key takeaways

• The debut record Heartbreaker went up in full on online music services on 18 August 2009, and the title track’s music video drew more than 350,000 views in three hours on GomTV and 4,979,774 by its 18th day.
• ‘Heartbreaker’ reached number one on Music Bank on 28 August 2009, and The Korea Herald wrote that the album won album of the year at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards.
• The first mini album One Of A Kind came to streaming on 15 September 2012 and to physical album on 18 September, with seven tracks. The title track ‘Crayon’ takes its name from ‘CRAZY’ and ‘G-DRAGON’.
• The second full-length album COUP D’ETAT was released on 13 September 2013, with the streaming release split between 2 September and 5 September.
• The offline edition of KWON JI YONG, out on 8 June 2017, was a USB stick, and on 19 June Gaon Chart said it would count it on its digital and download charts rather than its album chart.