iKon (; stylized as iKON) is a South Korean
boy band
A boy band is a vocal group consisting of young male singers, usually in their Teenage, teenage years or in their twenties at the time of formation. Generally, boy bands perform love songs marketed towards girls and young women. Many boy bands ...
formed in 2015 by
YG Entertainment
YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, 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 conce ...
. The lineup consists of six members: Jay, Song,
Bobby, DK,
Ju-ne, and
Chan. Originally a seven-piece band,
B.I departed from the group in June 2019.
Initially introduced in the reality survival show ''WIN: Who is Next'' as "Team B", the group went on to appear in the 2014 reality survival show ''Mix & Match'', which determined the final members of iKon. Their debut studio album ''
Welcome Back'' (2015) debuted atop 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 featured the number-one singles "My Type", "Apology", and "
Dumb & Dumber", as well as the top-ten singles "Rhythm Ta", "Airplane", and "Anthem". The album was a commercial success, selling over 260,000 copies in Asia, and its tracks collectively sold over 4.8 million copies, leading the group to receive numerous accolades from major Asian music award shows.
From 2016 to 2017, iKon released the singles "
#WYD" and "
New Kids: Begin" and embarked on their first
Asian tour
The Asian Tour is the principal men's professional golf professional golf tours, tour in Asia except for Japan (which has its own Japan Golf Tour). It is also a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours. Official money events on ...
and
several Japanese tours. In 2018, their second studio album ''
Return
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
'' spawned the number-one single "
Love Scenario", which topped 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 ...
for a record-breaking six weeks. Their third EP, ''
I Decide'', was released on February 6, 2020. Their fourth EP,
''Flashback'' (2022), set a new personal record for highest one-day and one-week sales.
iKon departed YG Entertainment in December 2022, following the expiration of their contracts with the agency,
and signed with 143 Entertainment. The group released their third studio album ''
Take Off'' in May 2023.
History
2013–2014: Pre-debut and formation
Prior to the group's formation, group leader
B.I featured on MC Mong's 2009 song "Indian Boy". He performed with
MC Mong at the 2009
SBS Dream Concert, as well as on ''
You Hee-yeol's Sketchbook''. Vocalist
Ju-ne, under his initial stage name Junhoe, made a pre-debut appearance aged thirteen on the SBS variety show ''
Star King''. He also competed on SBS' ''
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 2011. On January 3, 2011, B.I and Jay (under his given name Jinhwan) joined YG Entertainment as trainees, followed by
Bobby one week later. The trio trained together for one year and formed the basis of what became Team B. On April 18, 2012, Junhoe and Song (under his given name Yunhyeong) joined Team B. DK (under his given name Donghyuk) was the sixth member to join, on November 5, 2012.
In 2013, the six members participated as Team B on the
Mnet reality survival show ''WIN: Who Is Next'', competing against other trainees in Team A for the chance to debut as a group. The program involved three rounds of performances and public voting, with Team B eventually losing to Team A, who went on to debut as
Winner.
During the program, Team B released two singles: "Just Another Boy" and "Climax". The members subsequently appeared as backup dancers in
Taeyang's music video for "
Ringa Linga".
In June 2014, Team B appeared in the reality survival program ''Mix & Match'', a follow-up to ''WIN: Who Is Next'' to determine the final lineup of the boy group iKon. YG Entertainment
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization.
CEOs find roles in variou ...
Yang Hyun-suk stated that the group's name was derived from the goal to become an "icon for Korea", hence the "K".
While Bobby, B.I, and Jinhwan were pre-confirmed members, the remaining members of Team B competed against three new trainees: Jung Jin-hyeong;
Yang Hong-seok; and
Jung Chan-woo, who had previously appeared on Korean television as a child actor. It was reported that 150,000 fans applied to attend the final performance of the show, and before the announcement of iKon's official lineup, YG Entertainment's blog server crashed. Ultimately, Junhoe, Donghyuk and Yunhyeong successfully retained their places in the lineup, with Chan-woo added as the group's final member.
Following the success of ''Mix & Match'', iKon held fan meetings in South Korea, Japan, and China. In September, approximately 40,000 Japanese fans applied for 2,000 tickets to a fan meeting at
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
Tojima River Forum, while over 50,000 Chinese fans applied for the group's fan meeting in
Beijing
Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...
. The program aired on December 29, 2014 on the CS channel in Japan. On December 15, 2014, iKon performed as the opening act at Bigbang's ''
Japan Dome Tour 2014-2015 X''. On January 28, 2015,
''Billboard'' listed the group as one of the "Top 5 K-Pop Artists to Watch in 2015", the only group on the list that had yet to debut.
2015: Debut and ''Welcome Back''
Following several postponements, iKon's official debut was announced on YG Entertainment's website for September 15, 2015. It was revealed that the group would be releasing their debut album ''Welcome Back'' in two parts, with six of the 12 tracks serving as singles. The first half of the album, ''Debut Half Album'', was set to be released on October 1, followed by the ''Debut Full Album'' on November 2. The track listing for the first half-album was released on September 24. Group leader B.I was credited as a producer and co-composer on all of the album's tracks, with B.I and Bobby contributing to lyrics to all tracks and vocalist Ju-ne participating in the composition of the single "Rhythm Ta".
iKon debuted with the single "My Type", which was released with a music video on September 15, 2015. Within 24 hours, the music video surpassed 1.7 million views on YouTube. The group won their first music show trophy with the single on September 26, 2015 on
MBC's ''
Music Core'', even though they had yet to make their first official live appearance. On September 24, "My Type" achieved a "triple crown" on the
Gaon chart, having won the number one spot on the digital, download, and streaming charts simultaneously in the 39th week of 2015. On September 18, the single reached number one on the music video chart of Chinese music streaming sites QQ Music and
Youku
Youku Tudou Inc. (formerly Youku Inc.), doing business as Youku (), is a video streaming service and former video sharing website based in Beijing, China. It operates as a subsidiary of Alibaba Group Holding Limited.
Youku has its headquart ...
. iKon also trended on
Weibo
Weibo (), or Sina Weibo (), is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily ac ...
, where they were reportedly searched 1.3 billion times.
iKon's ''Debut Half Album'' was released digitally on October 1. The group held their first concert, Showtime, on October 3 at the Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena; tickets sold out 13,000 tickets. The concert being held at the largest concert hall in Korea was unprecedented for a new K-pop group at the time. The concert was broadcast live through
Naver
Naver (; stylized as NAVER) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. The company's products include a search engine, email hosting, blogs, maps, and mobile payment.
History
Naver was the first Korean web provide ...
's
V App and streamed by over 500,000 viewers.
On October 4, one day after their debut concert, the group made their music show debut on SBS'
Inkigayo
''Inkigayo'' (; English title: ''The Music Trend'', previously ''Popular Song'') is a South Korean music program broadcast by SBS. It airs live every Sunday. The show features some of the latest and most popular artists who perform on stage. ...
, performing "Rhythm Ta" and "Airplane" and receiving their third music show win for "My Type" in person. On October 8, they won on Mnet's ''
M Countdown
''M Countdown'' () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet from the CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. It features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. First hosted by Leeteuk ...
'' with "Rhythm Ta". According to the
Gaon Music Chart
The Circle Chart (), previously known as the Gaon Music Chart or the Gaon Chart (), tabulates the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in South Korea. Founded in 2010, it is produced by the Korea Music Content Association and sponsored ...
s, iKon topped the weekly album sales charts with the first half of ''Welcome Back'' for October 4–10.
In October, iKon embarked on a series of Japanese fan meetings titled "iKontact" in Tokyo, Aichi, Fukuoka and Osaka, attended by 26,600 fans. At the end of the month, iKon received a MelOn All-Kill Popularity Award, having sold 82,208 copies of the first half of ''Welcome Back''. On October 28, it was announced that the full album's release would be delayed to December 14, with two additional digital singles released on November 16.
Two digital singles, "Apology" and "Anthem", were released on November 16. "Apology" reached number one spot 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 ...
in the 48th week of 2015. On December 24, three new singles, "Dumb & Dumber", "What's Wrong?" and "I Miss You So Bad" were released.
2016: Japanese debut, Asian arena tours and new music
On January 13, 2016, the group made their Japanese debut with Japanese version of their album ''
Welcome Back''; the album sold 61,508 copies in its first week of release and placed third on the weekly
Oricon Albums Chart
The Oricon Albums Chart is the Japanese music industry standard albums popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Oricon originally published LP, CT, Cartridge and CD charts prior to the establishment of the Oricon A ...
,
earning them the New Artist Award and Best New Artist Award at the
58th Japan Record Award. The original Korean version of the album sold over 100,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2016.
On March 17, 2016, YG Entertainment announced that iKon would embark. on their first Asian tour, the
iKoncert 2016: Showtime Tour, with dates in
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
,
Hong Kong
Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...
,
Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
,
Singapore
Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Malaysia
Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
. On July 1, their agency announced the band's second Japanese arena tour, the
iKon Japan Tour 2016, set to visit five cities for a total of 14 concerts and an attendance of 150,000 fans. Later, the company announced the addition of two shows to be held in Tokyo due to demand in tickets. The completion of the second tour brought the band's total concert attendance in their debut year to 322,000. In November 14, YGEX announced a second tour leg in Japan, the iKon Japan Tour 2017, due to the success of the previous arena tour, which would see the band visit
Yokohama Arena
is an indoor arena located in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. The capacity of the arena is 17,000 and was opened in 1989. The arena was modeled after US sports venue Madison Square Garden in New York City. It is a five-minute walk from the ...
for the first time. The second leg was attended by 120,000 fans from three cities.
On May 30, iKon released the digital single "
#WYD". The song debuted at number three on the Gaon Digital Chart. On August 10, the release of iKon's first original Japanese single, ''
Dumb & Dumber'', was announced. The single was released on September 28 with a CD+DVD version and a CD version. It debuted at number one on both the daily and weekly editions of the Oricon Singles Chart.
The group participated in Chinese dance survival program ''
Heroes of Remix'' in 2016 with
Psy
Park Jae-sang (; born December 31, 1977), better known by his stage name Psy ( ; ), is a South Korean rapper and singer-songwriter, known domestically for his humorous music videos and stage performances and internationally for his hit singl ...
as their mentor. They were the most-winning artist on the show, winning three weeks and receiving a positive reviews for their performances. However, due to elevated political tensions between South Korea and China following the
Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) issue, iKon was edited out of the last episodes of the show. Their promotional activities and touring in China led them to win Asian Most Popular Korean Group at the China Music Awards, Best Group at the Netease Attitude Awards, and Best New Force Group and Album of the Year at the
QQ Music Awards.
2017: Japan Dome tour and ''New Kids'' album series
On February 11, 2017, it was announced that iKon would embark on their
first dome tour, with two shows set to take place in
Kyocera Dome and
Seibu Prince Dome and an expected attendance of 90,000 fans. This made them the fastest group to hold a concert in a Japan dome since debuting. On June 18, an additional 22 concerts in eight Japanese cities were announced by YGEX, with 233,000 fans expected to attend, making it the longest and the largest arena tour held by the band in Japan.
On March 2, 2017, YG Entertainment confirmed that iKon had begun filming two music videos for their new album that was set to be released in April. An injury to Chanwoo's ankle causing the shooting to be delayed. It was confirmed that iKon would release an album series called ''New Kids'' throughout 2017. The first entry of the series, the single album titled ''
New Kids: Begin'', was released on May 22.
2018–2019: Completion of the ''New Kids'' series and B.I's departure
iKon released their second studio album and the second entry of the group's four-part ''New Kids'' album series, ''
Return
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
'', on January 25, 2018. The lead single "
Love Scenario" was described as dance track with a circuitous melody and lyrics conveying a mellow yet upbeat reaction to a breakup. All 12 tracks of ''Return'' were co-written by members B.I and Bobby. Other artists including Psy, BigBang's Taeyang, and Epik High's Tablo also participated in songwriting alongside various YG Entertainment producers, including Choice37 and Teddy Park. "Love Scenario" topped the Gaon Digital Chart for six weeks, making iKon the first artist to achieve this milestone. It also topped the year-end Gaon Digital Chart for 2018. The group was named the top artist of the first half of 2018 by
Genie Music
Genie Music (), a subsidiary of KT Corporation, is a South Korean company that specializes in the production and distribution of music content. Its music streaming service is the second most used in South Korea with 2.5 million subscribers as ...
, having placed first on their daily music chart for 35 days.
iKon embarked on another tour in 2018, visiting eight cities across Asia. It marked the group second Asian tour after their iKoncert 2016: Showtime Tour. The group visited Australia for the first time, playing two shows in Sydney and Melbourne. iKon completed their four-part ''New Kids'' album series with the release of their first and second extended plays, ''
New Kids: Continue'' and ''
New Kids: The Final'', in August and October 2018, respectively.
On June 12, 2019, B.I announced his departure from the group and terminated his exclusive contract with
YG Entertainment
YG Entertainment () is a South Korean Multinational corporation, 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 conce ...
, following drug allegations.
2020–2021: ''I Decide'' and ''Kingdom: Legendary War''
iKon released their third EP, ''
I Decide'', on February 6, 2020, including the lead single "Dive". The EP, which was the group's first release since the departure of leader
B.I in 2019, debuted at number three 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 Koreabased on their Record sales, physical sales. It is a part of the Circle Chart, ...
.
On March 3, 2021, iKon returned with the new digital single "Why Why Why". Beginning. in April 2021, iKon competed in the reality competition series ''
Kingdom: Legendary War'' alongside five other K-pop boy groups. In the show's finale, the group performed "At Ease" (열중쉬어), co-written and co-composed by labelmate
Mino of
Winner. "At Ease", along with the other participants' songs from the finale, was later included in a special EP titled ''Kingdom Finale: Who Is the King?.''
2022–present: ''Flashback'', departure from YG Entertainment, and ''Take Off''
iKon returned with their fourth EP,
''Flashback'', on May 3, 2022, which included the lead single "But You". In July, the group held the iKon Japan Tour 2022 in Kobe and Tokyo, selling out most of the shows. On December 30, 2022, after seven years, the members of iKon departed from YG Entertainment following the completion of their contracts.
On January 1, 2023, all members of iKon signed with 143 Entertainment and announced plans to release a new album in April. On March 7, 2023, 143 Entertainment announced that iKon would embark on a world tour, 2023 iKon World Tour "Take Off", with performances in various countries across Asia, Europe, and North America. On April 18, 2023, it was confirmed that iKon's third studio album, ''
Take Off'', would be released on May 4.
Members
Retrieved from their
Naver
Naver (; stylized as NAVER) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. The company's products include a search engine, email hosting, blogs, maps, and mobile payment.
History
Naver was the first Korean web provide ...
profile.
Current
* Jay ()
* Song ()
*
Bobby ()
* DK ()
*
Ju-ne ()
*
Chan ()
Former
*
B.I () – leader
Discography
Korean albums
* ''
Welcome Back'' (2015)
* ''
Return
Return may refer to:
In business, economics, and finance
* Return on investment (ROI), the financial gain after an expense.
* Rate of return, the financial term for the profit or loss derived from an investment
* Tax return, a blank document or t ...
'' (2018)
* ''
Take Off'' (2023)
Japanese albums
* ''New Kids'' (2019)
* ''Flashback
I Decide' (2022)
Tours
Headlining
*
iKoncert: Showtime Tour (2016)
* Japan Tour (2016–17)
*
Japan Dome Tour (2017)
* Japan Tour (2018)
*
Continue Tour (2018–19)
* iKon Japan Tour 'FLASHBACK' (2022)
* iKon World Tour 'TAKE OFF' (2023)
Joint tours
*
YG Family –
Power World Tour
The Power World Tour (also known as the Power Galaxy Tour) is the second world tour by South Korea, South Korean music label YG Entertainment in 2014, the last being the Past, Present & the Future world tour in 2006. The tour marks the entertainm ...
(as Team B) (2014)
Opening act
*
Big Bang
The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...
–
Japan Dome Tour X (2014–15)
Filmography
*''WIN: Who Is Next'' (2013–14,
Mnet)
*''Mix And Match'' (2014–15, Mnet)
*''
Heroes of Remix'' (2016,
JSTV)
* ''iKon Idol School Trip '' (2017,
JTBC
JTBC (shortened from Joongang Tongyang Broadcasting Company; ; stylized in all lowercase) is a South Korean nationwide pay television network. Its primary shareholder is JoongAng Holdings, with a 25% stake. It was launched on December 1, ...
)
* ''iKon TV'' (2018,
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
& JTBC)
* ''iKon Heart Racing Youth Trip'' (2018,
Olleh TV)
* ''
YG Future Strategy Office'' (2018,
Netflix
Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
)
* ''
Kingdom: Legendary War'' (2021, Mnet)
* ''Icon of Taste: One Summer Night'' (2021, Wavve)
* ''iKon On Air'' (2022,
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
)
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
K-pop music groups
Musical groups established in 2015
South Korean boy bands
South Korean dance music groups
South Korean hip-hop groups
Musical groups from Seoul
2015 establishments in South Korea
MAMA Award winners
Melon Music Award winners
YG Entertainment artists
Circle Chart Music Award winners