Super Junior

Super Junior (; stylized in all caps), also known as SJ or SuJu, is a South Korean boy band formed by Lee Soo-man, the founder of SM Entertainment in 2005. They are also dubbed by the media as the "King of Hallyu Wave" due to their prominent contributions in Korean Wave. Super Junior currently consists of 10 members, consisting of leader Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook and Kyuhyun. Originally a 12-piece group before the addition of Kyuhyun in 2006, Han Geng, Kibum and Kangin departed the band in 2011, 2015 and 2019, respectively.

Super Junior launched into international recognition following the release of their best-selling single "Sorry, Sorry" in 2009, the title song of their most critically successful album, ''Sorry, Sorry''. Over the years, they have been divided into smaller groups, simultaneously targeting different music industries and audiences. The members have also individually branched out into hosting, presenting and acting. Their successes and popularity as all-rounded entertainers have led other Korean entertainment managements to also begin training their music groups in other aspects of the entertainment industry.

Super Junior was the best-selling K-pop artist for four years in a row. The group has earned thirteen music awards from the Mnet Asian Music Awards, nineteen from the Golden Disc Awards, and are the second singing group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the 2008 MTV Asia Awards after jtL in 2003. In 2012, they were nominated for "Best Asian Act" in MTV Europe Music Awards. They won the "International Artist" and "Best Fandom" awards at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards. In March 2020, Super Junior broke their own record topping the Korean Album Chart of Taiwan's ''KKBOX'' for 122 consecutive weeks since 2017 with their 8th album ''Play'', the 8th album repackage ''REPLAY'' in 2018, the 9th album ''Time_Slip'' from 2019, and 9th album repackage ''Timeless''.

Musical career

2000–2005: Formation and debut

In 2000, SM Entertainment held their first overseas casting auditions in Beijing 101, China and recruited Han Geng, who was selected among three thousand applicants. That same year, Leeteuk, Yesung, and Eunhyuk were recruited after auditioning for the company's annual casting system in Seoul. Sungmin and Donghae became trainees after jointly winning first place in an SM-sponsored contest in 2001. In 2002, Heechul and Kangin were recruited along with Kibum, who was discovered in Los Angeles, California by a casting agent. Siwon became a trainee after being scouted in 2003. Shindong became a trainee in 2004. Ryeowook won the 2004 Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition and became a trainee just two months before debut in 2005. Kyuhyun then joined the group in 2006, after winning third place in the 2005 Chin Chin Youth Festival.

In early 2005, Lee Soo-man announced that he had been preparing for an all-boy project group of twelve members to debut at the end of the year. He called this singing group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia," as most of the members in this group were chosen for their experiences as actors, MCs, models, and radio hosts prior to debut. Heechul and Kibum were already established actors at the time, and most of the other members had already made various kinds of appearances in television and media.Sharp #2 Official Website
(in Korean) Inspired by the rotational concept of Japan's girl group Morning Musume, Lee said that his new group would also experience line-up changes, with new members replacing selected members every year to keep the group constantly young and all-rounded. This concept was then newly introduced to the K-pop market. They are also modelled after Japanese boy band SMAP who are also active as actors and entertainers besides being singers.

For a while the group was rumoured to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm." However, before the group settled with their current name, the company simply referred to them as ''juniors'', a representation of the members' young ages when they first became SM trainees. After the members showcased their different talents to the company at a picnic, the company finalized their group name to Super Junior, and the first generation of Super Junior officially became Super Junior 05. Super Junior 05 made their pre-debut performance on the Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005. At the showcase, they performed various styles of hip-hop dancing, where they danced to B2K's "Take It to the Floor". Han Geng, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance together, dancing to Usher's " Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006, as a segment in the ''Super Junior Show'', the group's first television documentary.

The group officially debuted on SBS' music program '' Popular Song'' on November 6, 2005, performing their first single " Twins (Knock Out)". A digital single with "Twins (Knock Out)", "You Are the One", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8, followed by the release of their debut album ''Twins'' on December 6, 2005. The album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at number three in the monthly chart of December 2005.

2006–2007: ''U'', ''Don't Don'', and commercial success

In February 2006, Super Junior 05 began performances for "Miracle", the second promotional single from their debut album. "Miracle" topped the music charts of Thailand, drawing interest from international markets. They were subsequently invited to perform at the Pattaya Music Festival in Thailand in March 2006, making it their first overseas gig. As promotions for "Miracle" ended, SM Entertainment began selecting new members for Super Junior's second generation, Super Junior 06. The company even prepared a list of chosen members that were to graduate from the group. However, the company abandoned the rotational concept after adding a thirteenth member, Kyuhyun, in 2006. The group then became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05".

After the addition of Kyuhyun, Super Junior released their single " U" for free download on May 25, 2006, on their official website. "U" exceeded 400,000 downloads within five hours of release and ultimately surpassed 1.7 million downloads, crashing the server. The physical single of "U" with a total of three tracks was released on June 6, eventually selling over 81,000 units in South Korea. The single became one of Korea's most popular songs of the year, taking up number one spots for five consecutive weeks on two of Korea's top music programs. By the end of the year, Super Junior collected over seven awards in five of South Korea's top music award ceremonies, and was one of the three Best Newcomer winners at the 21st Golden Disk Awards.

In late 2006, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Yesung formed the subgroup Super Junior-K.R.Y., Super Junior's first sub-unit. They performed their first single "The One I Love", theme song to the Korean television drama ''Hyena'', on the KBS music program ''Music Bank'' on November 5, 2006. In February 2007, Leeteuk, Heechul, Kangin, Sungmin, Shindong and Eunhyuk formed Super Junior-T, a trot-singing group. They released their first single "Rokkugo" on February 23, 2007, and made a debut performance on ''Popular Songs'' two days later.

Super Junior's second official album was intended for a late 2006 release, but due to several accidental setbacks, ''Don't Don'' was not released until September 20, 2007. ''Don't Don'' sold over 60,000 units the first day of release and debuted at number one on the monthly chart of September 2007. Although ''Don't Don'' received mixed reviews from critics, the album went to sell more than 160,000 copies by the end of the year, becoming the second best-selling record of 2007. Super Junior received seven nominations at the 2007 Mnet/KM Music Festival, winning three of them which included Artist of the Year, termed by many as the highest recognition of the ceremony. Super Junior collected two more recognitions at the 22nd Golden Disk Awards, including a Disk Bonsang award (Record of the Year).

2008–2009: ''Sorry, Sorry'' and career breakthrough

Super Junior-M, Super Junior's Mandopop subgroup comprising members Han Geng, Siwon, Donghae, Kyuhyun, Ryeowook, and Super Junior-M members Henry and Zhou Mi, was formed in April 2008. Although the creation of the subgroup initially created a strife between the group's fans and their management, Super Junior-M went on to become Super Junior's most successful subgroup, selling out two concerts in Hong Kong, topping weekly ratings with their appearance on Chinese variety programs, and was the idol group with the most endorsement contracts in China. They won numerous awards at Chinese music festivals, and achieved critical acclaim after the release of their single " Super Girl" from their second record '' Super Girl'', which garnered them a nomination for Best Vocal Group at the 21st Golden Melody Awards. A fourth Super Junior subgroup was created soon after Super Junior-M's debut. With five members from Super Junior-T and Yesung, they formed the subgroup Super Junior-H, releasing their first extended play (EP) '' Cooking? Cooking!'' on June 5, 2008. In November 2008, Super Junior-T made a debut in Japan, collaborating with Japanese comedy duo Moeyan. Their single " ROCK&GO", the Japanese – language version of "Rokuko", debuted at number 19 on the Oricon Daily Charts and ascended to number 2 three days later.

Super Junior's first Asia-wide concert tour, Super Show, started on February 22, 2008, in Seoul. The group held a successful two-day fan meeting in Japan at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, selling out 12,000 tickets in several days. The group released a compiled single "U/Twins", which includes the Japanese version of "U" in the limited release version, to complement the event. The single peaked at number four on Japan's Oricon Daily Chart on its first day of release, and dropped down four places on its second. The single broke a new record for being the first Korean single to have made within top 10 on Japan's Oricon Weekly Chart.

The group released their third studio album ''Sorry, Sorry'' on March 12, 2009. It was their first album to debut at number one on the Hanteo Charts, selling over 29,000 copies the first day. After only a month of release, the album became South Korea's best-selling album of 2009, and ultimately sold over 250,000 copies in South Korea. It became the best-selling K-pop album in Taiwan, Thailand, China, and the Philippines, in which the latter credited the album to be the first K-pop album to reach number one in music charts from the country. The album's title single "Sorry, Sorry" became an instant hit, collecting a total of ten number-one awards for ten consecutive weeks in Korea, and stayed as number one for a record-breaking 37 weeks in Taiwan's K-pop singles chart. "Sorry, Sorry" achieved national and international success, and has since been the group's best-selling single in South Korea. ''Sorry, Sorry'' won several accolades at the 24th Golden Disk Awards, including the Disk Daesang (Record of the Year).

After the success of ''Sorry, Sorry'', Super Junior commenced their second Asia-wide concert tour Super Show 2, on July 17, 2009, in Seoul.

2010–2011: ''Bonamana'', lineup changes, and international recognition

Despite their critical and commercial success, the group was plagued by legal turmoils and lineup changes during their concert tour. Though Kibum was shown in the ads and promotional videos for Super Show 2, he did not officially participate in the concert tour, and he announced his temporary leave from the group to pursue his acting career. In October 2009, Kangin was charged with a DUI and hit-and-run after crashing into a parked taxi holding three passengers. In December 2009, Han Geng filed for contract termination from SM Entertainment, claiming that the provisions of his contract were unlawful, harsh, and against his rights. He parted with the group and released his solo album ''Geng Xin'' in July 2010, which sold over 510,000 copies. That same month, Kangin announced his hiatus to fulfill his two-year mandatory military service.

With only ten members left, Super Junior went off to release their fourth studio album, ''Bonamana'' in May 2010. Although the album did not fare as well as ''Sorry, Sorry'' critically, it sold over 300,000 copies in South Korea, outselling ''Sorry, Sorry''. "Bonamana" was originally made by moves from Michael Jackson's MV's choreographed together. The album remained at the top of Taiwan's Korean-Japanese Music Charts for 61 weeks, breaking their own previous record of the said chart.

To promote the album, Super Junior embarked on their third Asia-wide tour Super Show 3 in 2010 and 2011, and they had sold-out concerts for each stop. In February 2011, Super Junior released a 3D movie version of their tour,''Super Show 3 3D'' in all CGV and Primus movie theaters. The movie debuted at number six on the box office charts and went off to become the best-selling 3D movie in Korea. After touring in Japan, they released the ''Super Junior Japan 'Super Show 3' Opening Commemorative Album'' in February 2011, which debuted at number two on Japan's Tower Records online sales charts. The DVD version of ''Super Junior Japan Limited Special Edition – Super Show 3'' also debuted at number two, while the CD version debuted at number 10. The album also debuted at number 5 and remained at number three spot on the Oricon Daily Chart for two consecutive days and number six on the Oricon Weekly Chart. Following their commercial success in Japan, the group released a Japanese version of ''Bonamanas self-titled single in June 2011, which debuted at number two on the Oricon Daily Singles chart, selling over 59,000 copies the first week of release, however, SM did not see the release as their official Japanese debut and has stated that their debut in Japan will occur at a later time.

Between Super Show 3 stops, the group took part in the SMTown Live '10 World Tour and toured in Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo and New York City along with other SM Entertainment-managed artists, performing outside of Asia for the first time. Super Junior's performances were well received by the media, and they were honored as Korea's ''National Pop Culture Icon'' for their role in spreading the Hallyu Wave ( Korean Wave), receiving the Minister of Culture Awards by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism at the Pop Culture Art Awards. They were featured on CNN's ''Talk Asia'' program, and talked about their popularity and strategy for advancing into the world music industry. The group has achieved recognition beyond Asia, reaching notability in Europe, North America, and South America. Peru's Top 30 ranking of ''The Sexiest Men in the World'' included all of the members on the list They gave exclusive interviews to Slovenian and Iranian magazines, and they were selected by Brazilian Hallyu fans to be the number-one Korean artist they want to visit Brazil. Both Mexico's TV Azteca and the United Kingdom's BBC
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