NCT (Hangul: 엔시티) is a South Korean boy group formed by SM Entertainment. Their name stands for the Hallyu localization project Neo Culture Technology, a term coined by SM founder Lee Soo-man to describe the group’s concept of having an unlimited number of members divided into multiple sub-units based in various cities worldwide.

The group’s first unit, NCT U, made their debut on April 9, 2016, with the digital singles “The 7th Sense” and “Without You.” The second unit, NCT 127, based in Seoul, debuted on July 7, 2016, with the mini album NCT #127. The third unit, NCT Dream, made their debut on August 24, 2016, with the digital single “Chewing Gum.” The fourth unit, WayV, based in China, debuted on January 17, 2019, with the EP, The Vision.

As of January 2019, the group consists of 21 members: Taeil, Johnny, Taeyong, Yuta, Kun, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, Winwin, Jungwoo, Lucas, Mark, Xiaojun, Hendery, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Yangyang, Chenle and Jisung. The lineup is collectively known as NCT 2019.

Preparations for NCT began in late 2013, through SM Entertainment’s trainee group SM Rookies. Members were cast through various auditions, with Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Mark, and Renjun joining the company via SM Global Auditions, while the remaining members were discovered through street casting, personal recommendations, and community entertainment shows.

In January 2016, SM founder Lee Soo-man gave a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled “SMTOWN: Neo Culture Technology 2016,” speaking about the agency’s plans for a new boy group in line with their “culture contents” strategy that would be debuting different teams based in different cities around the world.

On April 4, 2016, SM Entertainment announced NCT’s first unit, NCT U (the “U” standing for United), which at the time consisted of six members: Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark. NCT U released digital singles “The 7th Sense” (Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark) on April 9 and “Without You” in two versions on April 10 (a Korean version sung by Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun, and a Chinese version with the addition of SM Rookies’ Kun).

On April 9, 2016, NCT U made their first broadcast appearance with NCT On Air on V Live, hosted by Super Junior’s Kim Hee-chul. The same day, they had their first live performance in China at the 16th Music Feng Yun Bang Awards, with the addition of Chinese members Kun and Winwin. On April 15, the group made their debut in Korea on Music Bank. They have since appeared in three seasons of their reality series NCT Life, featuring other trainees from SM Rookies.

On July 1, SM announced NCT’s second unit, NCT 127. The unit is based in Seoul, with the number “127” representing the longitude coordinate of Seoul. The unit debuted with seven members: Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan. On July 7, they had their official debut performance on the music program M Countdown, performing debut single “Fire Truck” and “Once Again.” Their debut EP NCT #127 was released digitally on July 10 and physically on July 11. On July 29, the unit released the single “Taste the Feeling” for the project SM Station in collaboration with Coca-Cola.

On August 18, SM announced that NCT’s third unit would be called NCT Dream. The unit debuted with seven members: Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. Their first single “Chewing Gum” was released on August 24, and the group had their debut performance on M Countdown the next day.

On December 6, five members of NCT 127 (Yuta, Taeyong, Jaehyun, Mark, and Winwin) released a special dance music video for the song “Good Thing” in collaboration with W Korea. The track was eventually released on NCT 127’s second EP, Limitless. On December 20, NCT 127 released the music video for “Switch.” The single was previously issued as a bonus track on NCT 127’s debut EP, and features the SM trainee group SR15B.

On December 27, 2016, NCT 127 announced they would be making a comeback with the addition of two members: NCT U’s Doyoung and new member Johnny. On January 5, 2017, NCT 127 released two music videos for “Limitless” and performed the song on M Countdown. Their second EP Limitless was released digitally on January 6 and physically on January 9. The release debuted at number one on Billboard’s World Albums Chart, and the title track was later named one of the best K-pop songs of the year by Dazed.

On February 1, 2017, NCT Dream revealed they would be releasing their first physical single The First on February 9. SM Entertainment announced that Jaemin would not be participating in this promotional cycle due to health problems. NCT Dream returned to the stage on M Countdown, performing the single “My First and Last” and the b-side “Dunk Shot”. On February 14, NCT Dream won first place on the 100th episode of SBS MTV’s The Show, marking the first-ever music show win for an NCT unit. NCT Dream was also unveiled to be the official ambassadors for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup. They released the tournament’s official theme song, “Trigger the Fever”, on March 15.

On March 8, NCT 127 members Johnny and Jaehyun were announced to be the DJs for SBS Power FM’s new program, NCT’s Night Night, which started to air on March 20.

On June 14, NCT 127 released their third EP, Cherry Bomb. They returned to the stage on M Countdown, performing the new songs “Cherry Bomb” and “0 Mile”. Billboard and Idolator both later declared “Cherry Bomb” one of the best K-pop songs of the year.

On August 17, NCT Dream released their first EP We Young. They gave the title track its debut performance on M Countdown. In December, NCT Dream released their first Christmas song, “Joy”.

In January 2018, NCT U (consisting of Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun) released the single “Timeless” as part of the SM Station project.

In mid-January, SM Entertainment unveiled NCT 2018, a project involving all 18 members of NCT. On January 30, SM released a video titled “NCT 2018 Yearbook #1,” which featured all prior members and introduced new members Kun, Lucas, and Jungwoo. In February, NCT released a series of online documentary videos titled NCTmentary as part of the NCT 2018 project.

On March 14, NCT released its first full-length album, NCT 2018 Empathy. The album featured six singles, showcasing all current units of NCT: “Boss”, “Baby Don’t Stop”, “Yestoday” (All NCT U), “Go” (NCT Dream), “Touch” (NCT 127), and “Black on Black” (NCT 2018).

On May 5, NCT topped Billboard’s Emerging Artists chart, marking the first time that a K-pop act had led the list.

On September 3, NCT Dream released their second EP We Go Up with the lead single of the same name. SM confirmed that Mark would be leaving NCT Dream after completing promotions for the release.

On October 12, NCT 127 released their first full-length album, Regular-Irregular, with the lead single “Regular”. With the addition of Jungwoo, the group’s size was officially expanded to 10 members. For the album, NCT 127 focused on promotions in America.

On November 23, NCT 127 released the repackaged edition of Regular-Irregular, titled Regulate, along with the lead single “Simon Says”. It was announced that Winwin would not be participating in the comeback activities in order to prepare for his debut with WayV.

On December 28, NCT Dream released the single “Candle Light” as part of the SM Station project.

On December 31, 2018, SM Entertainment announced NCT’s fourth unit, “WayV (威神V)”. The unit is based in China and consists of 7 members: Kun, Winwin, Ten, Lucas, Hendery, Xiaojun, and Yangyang. WayV is managed under LABEL V, a Chinese label collaborating with SM’s production. The unit officially debuted on January 17, 2019 with a Chinese version of NCT 127’s “Regular”. Their debut album also included a Chinese version of NCT 127’s “Come Back” and their own single called “Dream Launch”

Apple Music named NCT 127 as a “New Artist of the Week” after the release of their album Cherry Bomb. NCT 127 also received “Best Newcomer” awards from the Mnet Asian Music Awards, Golden Disk Awards and Seoul Music Awards.

Source: wikipedia