

Xiaojun was a singing contestant on the Zhejiang TV program X-Fire in November 2015. In 2011, Yuta participated in the singing competition "Juice Winter Collection" in Japan, while Ten competed on the Thai TV show Teen Superstar under the name TNT. Chenle was active on the Chinese music scene as a singer from 2009 to 2015 he released three albums and headlined a solo concert in China. Jisung was a child actor and filmed movies such as Boys, Be Curious (2012) and Go, Stop, Murder (2013).

Jeno appeared in various commercials as a child. Prior to joining SM Entertainment, some of the members were already involved in the entertainment industry. See also: SM Rookies 2013–2016: Formation and pre-debut activities NCT as a whole was SM Entertainment's first idol group to debut in nearly two years since Red Velvet in 2014 and SM Entertainment's first boy group to debut since Exo in 2012.

The name of the group was later revealed to be NCT, an acronym for the presentation title. Furthermore, the members would form "sub-unit teams" and have "collaborations" with each other. The label planned to debut a new boy group that would "fall in line" with their culture contents strategy, one that would contain an "unlimited" number of members that would debut in separate sub-units within the group. In January 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man delivered a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016". 2.8 2022: Comebacks for NCT Dream and NCT 127.2.7 2021: First NCT Dream studio album, introduction of NCT Hollywood, and Universe.2.6 2020: NCT Dream restructure, first WayV studio album, new members, and NCT 2020 Resonance.2.5 2019: Debut of WayV, first NCT 127 concert tour, and comebacks for NCT Dream and NCT U.2.4 2018: New members, NCT 2018 Empathy, and first NCT 127 studio album.2.3 2017: New members and comebacks for NCT 127 and NCT Dream.2.2 2016: Debuts of NCT U, NCT 127 and NCT Dream.2.1 2013–2016: Formation and pre-debut activities.Universe, which was released in December 2021, became their most pre-order album at 1.7 million copies, and later surpassed 1.8 million sales after its release. Within two months of release, Resonance sold over 2.6 million copies across its two parts, becoming the highest-selling physical album released by an act from SM Entertainment at the time and earning the group their first Grand Daesang Award at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards. WayV, a seven-member sub-unit based in China and NCT's first overseas sub-unit, debuted on January 17, 2019, with the single album The Vision.Īlthough each sub-unit promotes separately, NCT has united three times as a group to record three full-length albums: Empathy (2018), Resonance (2020), and Universe (2021). It was followed by the Seoul-based sub-unit NCT 127 on July 7, 2016, with their eponymous extended play and the then-teenaged sub-unit NCT Dream on August 24, 2016, with the digital single "Chewing Gum". The group debuted their first sub-unit, the rotational NCT U, on April 9, 2016, with the double digital single "The 7th Sense" and "Without You". In South Korean charts, NCT has recorded more than 24 million album sales across all sub-units, making them the best-selling act under SM Entertainment. The group consists of 23 members as of April 2021, ranging in age from late teens to mid-twenties and divided into four different sub-units: NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WayV. NCT ( Korean: 엔시티 an acronym for Neo Culture Technology) is a South Korean boy band formed by SM Entertainment and introduced in January 2016.
