Zerobaseone (stylized in
all caps
In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...
; abbreviated as ZB1; ) 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 through
Mnet
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
's
reality competition
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
program ''
Boys Planet
''Boys Planet'' () is a 2023 South Korean reality competition show created by Mnet. It aired on Mnet from February 2, 2023, to April 20, 2023, every Thursday at 20:50 ( KST). Out of thousands of applicants, 98 contestants from various backgrou ...
'' and managed by
WakeOne. The group consists of nine members:
Kim Ji-woong,
Zhang Hao,
Sung Han-bin
Sung Han-bin (; born June 13, 2001) is a South Korean singer and dancer. He is best known for competing on the Mnet reality competition show '' Boys Planet'', where he ranked second in the final episode, making him a member of Zerobaseone.
Ear ...
, Seok Matthew, Kim Tae-rae, Ricky, Kim Gyu-vin, Park Gun-wook, and Han Yu-jin.
Zerobaseone debuted on July 10, 2023, with the
extended play
An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...
(EP) ''
Youth in the Shade'' and was commercially successful upon release, selling over two million units, peaked number one on South Korean
Circle 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 was among the best-selling albums worldwide, according to
International Federation of the Phonographic Industry
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) is the organisation that represents the interests of the recording industry worldwide. It is a non-profit members' organisation registered in Switzerland and founded in Italy in 1 ...
(IFPI). In addition, the EP's lead single, "
In Bloom
"In Bloom" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It appears as the second track on the band's second album, ''Nevermind'', released by DGC Records in September 1991.
The ''Nevermind'' version ...
", charted on
''Billboard'' Global 200. The group earned a "Rookie Grand Slam" (2023–2024) by sweeping the 10 Rookie of the Year awards from different domestic award ceremonies, including
Golden Disc Awards
The Golden Disc Awards (, formerly spelled the Golden Disk Awards before 2015) is an annual South Korean major music awards ceremony that honors achievements in the local music industry. The awards ceremony was founded with the purpose to prom ...
,
MAMA Awards
The MAMA Awards (, formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major Music award, music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ ENM. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes have been won by K-pop artists, although ...
,
Melon Music Awards
The Melon Music Awards () is a major music awards show that is held annually by Kakao Entertainment (a Kakao company) through its online music store Melon. The event was initially a fan-voted award conducted entirely online from 2005 through ...
, and
Seoul Music Awards
The Seoul Music Awards (; SMA) is a major South Korean music awards show presented by the newspaper Seoul Shinmun, ''Sports Seoul''. The award winners are selected based on a combination of criteria, including music sales, popular votes, and exp ...
. They will be active for two years and six months.
Name
Zerobaseone represents the "journey of the nine trainees to be completed as one after their debut". It refers to the "glorious beginning" of the nine members, starting from zero (0) and ending with one (1), and implies the members' commitment to share with their fans the unfinished journey of their group from zero to one. Zerobaseone is abbreviated as ZB1.
History
Formation through ''Boys Planet'' and other activities
Zerobaseone was formed through
Mnet
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
's
reality competition
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
series ''
Boys Planet
''Boys Planet'' () is a 2023 South Korean reality competition show created by Mnet. It aired on Mnet from February 2, 2023, to April 20, 2023, every Thursday at 20:50 ( KST). Out of thousands of applicants, 98 contestants from various backgrou ...
'', which aired from February 2 to April 20, 2023. The show brought 98 contestants from around the world, primarily in South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, and Canada, to compete and to debut in a multinational boy group.
Out of a pool of 98 contestants, only the top nine would make the final lineup. All members were announced in the finale episode, which was broadcast live on April 20, 2023, where they'll be active for about two years and six months.
Before appearing on the program, several members had already been active in the entertainment industry.
Kim Ji-woong was a member of the boy group INX and an active actor who had appeared on multiple
BL web series
A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...
, such as ''Kissable Lips'' and ''Roommates of Poongduck 304''. In 2020, Kim Tae-rae competed in the competitive singing show, ''
Top 10 Student''. In 2021, Park Gun-wook competed in the survival reality show, '. However, he did not make it into the final lineup of the boy group,
TAN.
2023: Debut with ''Youth in the Shade'', and ''Melting Point''
In April 2023,
WakeOne announced that Zerobaseone started to prepare with the goal of debuting in the middle of the year.
On May 14, Zerobaseone released a spoiler film, ''Youth in Shade'', after completing their first group schedule at
KCON Japan 2023. The released video features two members, Zhang Hao and Sung Han-bin, who at the end of the video face each other with a small candle in the middle, after which the words 'Youth', 'In The', and 'Shade' appear intersecting. On May 26, WakeOne confirmed that Zerobaseone would debut in July 2023.
On June 22, the first episode of the group's pre-debut
reality show
Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...
''Camp Zerobaseone'' was aired on
Mnet
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
. The reality show consists of 3 episodes aiming for a journey that will help the members bond and get to know one another even better. On June 26, the album was reported to have amassed over 780,000 pre-orders within five days, surpassing 1.08 million copies by July 4, setting the record for the highest number of pre-orders for a K-pop debut album. The group officially debuted on July 10, with their first
EP ''
Youth in the Shade'' along with its lead single "
In Bloom
"In Bloom" is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by vocalist and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It appears as the second track on the band's second album, ''Nevermind'', released by DGC Records in September 1991.
The ''Nevermind'' version ...
" and music video. On the same day, they held a press showcase in the afternoon at Yes24 Live Hall in
Gwangjin District
Gwangjin District () is one of the List of districts of Seoul, 25 districts of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea. It is located on the north bank of the Han River (Korea), Han River on the eastern end of City of Seoul, Seoul. The district was split from ...
,
Seoul
Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...
and also broadcast live their fan showcase titled "Zerobaseone Debut Show: In Bloom" on
Mnet
M-Net (an abbreviation of Electronic Media Network) is a South African pay television channel established by Naspers in 1986. The channel broadcasts both local and international programming, including general entertainment, children's series, ...
at 20:00 (KST), it also live streaming via Mnet K-Pop YouTube channel,
Abema
is a Japanese streaming service that launched on April 11, 2016, under the name It is majority-owned by CyberAgent, with a 55.2% stake, and TV Asahi, with a 36.8% stake, while the remaining ownership belongs to various other companies, mostl ...
, and Mnet Japan. The group earned their first
music show win on
SBS M
SBS M is a South Korean pay television music channel owned by SBS Medianet, a division of SBS Media Holdings. It features South Korean pop artists, international music, news, and a few reality and variety programs.
It was launched in 2001 as t ...
's ''
The Show'' eight days after their debut. In conjunction with their debut promotion, the group held their first fan concert at
Gocheok Sky Dome on August 15 to an audience of 18,000. ''Youth in the Shade'' subsequently sold more than 2 million copies, setting a sales record for a K-pop debut album.
On August 20, it was announced that Zerobaseone would be releasing their second EP in November. On October 6, it was announced that the group's second EP ''
Melting Point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state of matter, state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase (matter), phase exist in Thermodynamic equilib ...
'' would be released on November 6. On October 26, the album amassed over 1.7 million pre-orders and reportedly sold over 2 million copies in its first week of release, making them the first K-pop group to do so in debut year.
On November 29, WakeOne confirmed that Zerobaseone will be making their Japanese debut and hold a fan-meeting in Japan under
Lapone Entertainment
is a Japanese management and entertainment company, established in May 2019 as a joint venture between South Korean CJ ENM and Japanese Yoshimoto Kogyo. The company operates as a talent agency, entertainment company, and record label under Yoshi ...
in March 2024. Later, it was announced that the Japanese debut date would be on March 20, 2024.
2024: Japanese debut, ''You Had Me at Hello'', ''Cinema Paradise'' and first tour
On March 7, Zerobaseone released their debut Japanese single along with its music video.
The single was a commercial success, setting a new first day sales record for a debut single by a K-pop artist in Japan with over 187,000 copies sold. It ranked number one on the
Oricon Weekly Singles Chart
The Oricon Singles Chart is the Japanese music industry-standard singles popularity chart issued daily, weekly, monthly and yearly by Oricon. Chart rankings are based on physical singles' sales. Until 2017, Oricon did not track download sales. In ...
with over 302,000 copies sold, making Zerobaseone the first foreign artist to sell more than 300,000 copies in the first week with their Japanese debut single.
On March 31, Zerobaseone revealed a spoiler film "Summer Came Early" at the end of their special stage performance at the 2024 KCON in Hong Kong and announced that they will be releasing a new Korean album in May 2024. It was later reported that the respective album is slated to be the group's third EP titled ''
You Had Me at Hello'' along with the lead single "
Feel the Pop" to be released on May 13 and preceded with a pre-release song titled "
Sweat
Perspiration, also known as sweat, is the fluid secreted by sweat glands in the skin of mammals.
Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and Apocrine sweat gland, apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distribu ...
" on April 24.
On April 29, Zerobaseone announced the schedule for their first tour starting from Seoul in September 20, 2024 to Kanagawa in December 5, 2024.
Their fourth EP, titled ''
Cinema Paradise
''Cinema Paradise'' is the fourth extended play by South Korean boy group Zerobaseone. It was released on August 26, 2024, by WakeOne and comprises seven tracks, with "Good So Bad" serving as the lead single.
Background
On July 5, 2024, ''Ten A ...
'', was released on August 26.
It was announced on September 27 that Zerobaseone would release the single "Only One Story", serving as the new opening theme for ''Rayquaza Rising'', the fourth chapter of ''
Pokémon Horizons: The Series''. The song was released as the new opening theme on October 11, the airdate of the 68th episode of the series and the first episode of the ''Rayquaza Rising'' saga. The song will be included on the group's debut Japanese
EP, ''
Prezent'', which was released on January 29, 2025.
2025–present: ''Prezent'' and ''Blue Paradise''
On January 29, Zerobaseone released their first Japanese-language EP ''Prezent'' with title track "Now or Never". In addition to the title track and Japanese versions of previous title tracks, "Feel the Pop" and "
Good So Bad", this album also included the ''Pokémon Horizons: The Series'' soundtrack song "Only One Story", and 3 other original Japanese songs. Prior to the release of ''Prezent'', Zerobaseone released "
Doctor! Doctor!" on January 20, 2025, which serves as a pre-release single for their fifth Korean-language EP ''
Blue Paradise''. It was released on February 24, alongside the title track "
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB color model, RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB color model, RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between Violet (color), violet and cyan on the optical spe ...
". On the same day, it was reported that WakeOne is evaluating a plan to extend the contract period of Zerobaseone.
Other ventures
Endorsements
In July 2023, Zerobaseone was announced as the first brand models for
Bring Green, a South Korean skincare brand. In the same year, the group was also selected as the brand muse for several clothing brands, such as Romantic Crown for its 2023 Fall/Winter Collection in September, Skoolooks for the launch promotion of its school winter uniform collection in November, and
SPAO for a collaboration collection inspired from the group's song "
Good Night" in December. In April 2024, coincidentally with their first formation anniversary, Zerobaseone collaborated with
Line Friends to release nine new characters as the group's alter ego. Dubbed as "zeroni" (), each character is named after each member's nickname.
Philanthropy
In March 2025, Zerobaseone donated to
Seoul National University Children's Hospital Sponsorship Association, in celebration for achieving the target of 10 million streams for "
Doctor! Doctor!", under the group's fanclub Zerose.
Members
*
Kim Ji-woong ()
*
Zhang Hao (; )
*
Sung Han-bin
Sung Han-bin (; born June 13, 2001) is a South Korean singer and dancer. He is best known for competing on the Mnet reality competition show '' Boys Planet'', where he ranked second in the final episode, making him a member of Zerobaseone.
Ear ...
() – leader
* Seok Matthew ()
* Kim Tae-rae ()
* Ricky (; )
* Kim Gyu-vin ()
* Park Gun-wook ()
* Han Yu-jin ()
Discography
Korean EPs
* ''
Youth in the Shade'' (2023)
* ''
Melting Point
The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state of matter, state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase (matter), phase exist in Thermodynamic equilib ...
'' (2023)
* ''
You Had Me at Hello'' (2024)
* ''
Cinema Paradise
''Cinema Paradise'' is the fourth extended play by South Korean boy group Zerobaseone. It was released on August 26, 2024, by WakeOne and comprises seven tracks, with "Good So Bad" serving as the lead single.
Background
On July 5, 2024, ''Ten A ...
'' (2024)
* ''
Blue Paradise'' (2025)
Japanese EPs
* ''
Prezent'' (2025)
Videography
Music videos
Filmography
Television shows
Reality shows
Online shows
Concerts
*
Timeless World (2024)
Awards and nominations
Zerobaseone achieved a "Rookie Grand Slam" (2023–2024) by sweeping 10 Rookie of the Year Awards from different domestic award ceremonies.
Notes
References
External links
*
*
{{Authority control
2023 establishments in South Korea
Boys Planet
K-pop music groups
MAMA Award winners
Musical groups established in 2023
Musical groups from Seoul
Singing talent show winners
South Korean boy bands
South Korean dance music groups
South Korean pop music groups
WakeOne artists
Sony Music Entertainment Japan artists
Melon Music Award winners
Golden Disc Award winners
South Korean musical nonets
Circle Chart Music Award winners