All for one, one for all: NCT shines brighter, wider [GOLDEN 2023]

K-popNov 14, 2023

Boy band NCT [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

Nicknamed the “Korean Grammys,” the 38th Golden Disc Awards will take place on Jan. 6 in Jakarta, Indonesia, to honor the passion and talent that shone bright in the world of K-pop during the year of 2023.

Organized by the JoongAng Group, the Golden Disc Awards is considered one of the most prestigious awards in Korea with its unique format where dozens of nominees and multiple winners are chosen for three main categories — music, album and rookie of the year.

In this series, Golden 2023, the Korea JoongAng Daily’s entertainment arm Celeb Confirmed looks at K-pop’s biggest and brightest stars who are potential nominees, and their achievements this year.

All for one, and one for all: boy band NCT’s unique and flexible structure has sometimes sent the audience spiraling into confusion, but 2023 was the year that proved the idea of having a greater group with elastic subunits can truly work to the benefit of the whole and its parts.

In what turned out to be the most tumultuous year for SM Entertainment yet, NCT’s fluidity was the key that allowed them to weather the storm.

Boy band NCT 127 [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

Not only did two of its subunits’ albums sell over a million copies within a week of their release, the whopping sales led to SM Entertainment’s highest-ever quarterly operating profit in the third quarter of 2023, 70 percent higher than the same period last year.

Four albums came out under the “NCT” brand tag in 2023: “Ay-Yo,” the repackaged album of NCT 127’s fourth full-length album; “ISTJ,” the third full-length album by NCT Dream; “Golden Age” by the whole NCT; and “Fact Check,” the fifth full-length album by NCT 127.

There are currently 20 members and four sub-groups — NCT 127, NCT Dream, NCT U and WayV — under the NCT umbrella, with one final addition to the roster coming next year. Tentatively named NCT New Team, the six-member boy band is set to mark an end to the ever-expanding openness of NCT and add yet another pillar to the group's world.

Boy band NCT 127 [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

“Ay-Yo”! NCT 127’s “Fact Check”

NCT 127 kicked off the year with a repackaged version of its fourth full-length album “Ay-Yo” on Jan. 30. Nine months later on Oct. 6, it released its fifth full-length album “Fact Check,” which became the band’s best-selling album to date.

While NCT as a whole has been loved for its unique electro-hip-hop music throughout the years, the distinct music style had made it somewhat difficult for the general public to approach the songs. But not for “Fact Check.”

The album sold 1.6 million copies within the first week of release and saw over 1.1 million streams on Spotify for the title track “Fact Check” alone. Within the first week, the whole album reached almost 15 million streams on Spotify, while the title track had garnered 6.6 million streams on its own.

NCT 127 has been nominated for the Best Dance Performance Male Group, the Song of the Year and the Worldwide Fans’ Choice categories at the upcoming 2023 MAMA Awards so far.

NCT 127 “Ay-Yo” (Jan. 30, 2023)

First-week album sales of "Ay-Yo": 955,632

First-day streaming of lead track "Ay-Yo" on Spotify: 674,452

First-week streaming of album songs on Spotify: 4,017,331

Aggregate album song streams on Spotify: 150 million

Music video views for “Ay-Yo” on YouTube: 26,429,259 (as of Nov. 14)

Major nominations: 2023 MAMA Awards (Best Dance Performance Male Group, Song of the Year, Worldwide Fans’ Choice)

Other: No. 1 on Japan’s Line Music Album Top 100 Chart, No. 13 on the Billboard 200 albums chart

NCT 127 “Fact Check” (Oct. 6, 2023)

First-week album sales of "Fact Check": 1,628,953

First-day streaming of lead track "Fact Check" on Spotify: 1,123,008

First-week streaming of album songs on Spotify: 14,857,581

Aggregate album song streams on Spotify: 150 million

Music video views for “Fact Check” on YouTube: 40,269,986 (as of Nov. 14)

Other: No. 1 on Japan’s Line Music Album Top 100 Chart, No. 16 on the Billboard 200 albums chart

Taeyong of boy band NCT [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

The "Shalala" by Taeyong

Taeyong, the versatile leader of NCT 127, began his solo career on June 5 with his first solo EP "Shalala," marking his fifth "debut" in his life, following his debuts in boy band NCT, subunits NCT U and NCT 127 in 2016 and SM Entertainment’s male supergroup SuperM in 2019.

Just a day later after "Shalala" dropped, his album topped the iTunes Top Albums Chart in 30 countries worldwide and also topped the Worldwide iTunes Albums Charts and Chinese music streaming platform QQ Music's digital album sales chart.

The EP has surpassed over 500,000 copies in pre-orders at the time of its release, of which 439,600 copies were actually sold during the first week. "Shalala" has been nominated for both the Song of the Year and Album of the Year categories at the 2023 MAMA Awards.

Taeyong "Shalala" (June 5, 2023)

First-week album sales of "Shalala": 439,600

First-day streaming of lead track "Shalala" on Spotify: 268,141

Music video views for "Shalala" on YouTube: 10,568,890 (as of Nov. 14)

Major nominations: 2023 MAMA Awards (Song of the Year, Album of the Year)

Boy band NCT Dream [NEWS1]

NCT Dream, the trendy “ISTJ”

NCT Dream, known as the “younger” sub-group of NCT, released its trendy take on the personality test that continues to sweep young Koreans, in its third full-length album “ISTJ,” which released July 17.

ISTJ is one of the 16 personality types in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test, which can roughly be characterized as a rational, introverted and organized individual. According to the test, ENFP is the exact opposite personality type of ISTJ.

Shy though the title may be, the album certainly wasn’t.

It sold over 3.65 million copies during the first week, the highest ever for any artist in SM Entertainment. The album, along with the band’s blowout single “Candy” that was released last December, has won six nominations at the upcoming 2023 MAMA Awards and a nomination at the 2023 Pop Golden Awards.

NCT Dream “ISTJ” (July 17, 2023)

First-week album sales of “ISTJ”: 3,652,897

First-day streaming of lead track “ISTJ” on Spotify: 629,972

Aggregate album song streams on Spotify: 114.6 million

Music video views for “ISTJ” on YouTube: 56,771,626 (as of Nov. 14)

Major nominations: 2023 MAMA Awards (Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Male Group and Worldwide Fans' Choice for 'ISTJ' and Best Dance Performance Male Group and Song of the Year for 'Candy')

Other: Debuts at No. 28 on the Billboard 200 albums chart

Boy band NCT [SM ENTERTAINMENT]

NCT’s “Golden Age”

The first new project to come from the whole NCT family in two years, “Golden Age” was released on Aug. 28 to mark the mega-group’s golden era, celebrated by fans of all franchises.

“Golden Age” came in a unique format where nine out of the 10 songs were sung by members of NCT U, while only the title and lead track “Golden Age” was sung by all 20 members of the NCT clan. Another lead track “Baggy Jeans” was also sung and performed by five members of NCT U — Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark.

“Golden Age” sold 961,463 copies during the first week and has had its songs streamed over 43.5 million times so far.

The album debuted at No. 66 on the Billboard 200 albums chart and No. 3 on both the Top Album Sales chart and the Top Current chart. It also topped the weekly albums chart on Japan’s largest music chart Oricon.

NCT “Golden Age” (Aug. 28, 2023)