NCT

I. Introduction

NCT (엔시티) or Neo Culture Technology is a boy group under SM Entertainment. The group structure of NCT is unique among K-Pop groups due to the fact that the original concept of NCT was an ever expanding group with "unlimited" members and it is comprised of several individual subunits. Currently there are 20 members in NCT making up four individual subunits. There have been as many as 23.

A fifth unit, tentatively titled NCT Tokyo, was announced to debut in 2023. There are also three special member units.

In 2023, SM announced that there would be no new units after Tokyo and the group would cease to be unlimited. It also stated members would not move between units.

II. Subunits

III. NCT U

NCT U is the first unit of NCT to debut. It is a special promotional unit with rotational members. Members are chosen to promote based on the song and concept. On April 4, 2016 NCT U debuted with the singles "The 7th Sense" (Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun, and Mark) and "Without You" (Taeil, Doyoung, and Jaehyun). A Chinese version of "Without You" features future NCT member Kun. As of May 2023, all current members of NCT have promoted under the NCT U subunit.

IIII. NCT 127

NCT 127 is the second unit of NCT to debut. NCT 127 is a fixed unit based in Seoul. NCT 127 debuted on July 7, 2016 with the EP NCT #127 and lead single "Fire Truck" with seven members (Taeyong, Taeil, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan). On December 16, it was announced that two new members, Johnny and Doyoung, would be joining NCT 127 with the second EPLimitless. In October 2018, it was announced that a 10th member, Jungwoo, would be added to NCT 127 with the release of their first full length album Regular-Irregular. In January 2019 member Winwin became an inactive member of NCT 127 due to his promotions with WayV.

IIIII. NCT Dream

NCT Dream is the third unit of NCT to debut. NCT Dream's original concept was a group of younger members who would promote and "graduate" from the group upon turning 20 years of age. They made their debut with seven members (Mark, Renjun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung) on August 24, 2016 with the single "Chewing Gum". On September 3, 2018, SM confirmed that after promotions for NCT Dream's second EP We Go Up were completed, Mark would graduate from the group and they would continue on with six members. In April 2020, SM announced that following the release of NCT Dream's fourth EP Reload, the group's graduation concept would be dropped. Mark rejoined Dream, beginning with the release of their first album, Hot Sauce.

IIIV. WayV

WayV is the fourth unit of NCT to debut. WayV is a fixed unit based in China and consists of seven members (Kun, Ten, Winwin, Lucas, Xiaojun, Hendery, and Yangyang). Due to tensions at the time between China and South Korea, WayV was introduced and promoted as a seperate group from NCT under Label V. However they made their debut on January 17, 2019 with a Chinese version of NCT 127's "Regular". In September 2020, WayV officially became part of NCT with the launch of the NCT 2020 project.

In 2021, WayV introduced mini sub-units: WayV Kun & Xiaojun, WayV Ten & YangYang and WayV Lucas & Hendery. The third did not release a song due to Lucas' hiatus. The group promoted as six members and Lucas left the group in 2023.

IIV. NCT Tokyo (tentative name)

NCT Tokyo is the fifth unit of NCT, scheduled to debut in 2023. Tokyo will be a fixed unit based in Japan. Although it was previously implied it would contain existing NCT members, newly introduced rookies and additional ones, SM announced in 2023 that it was changing its plans and casting the group from a reality show. Previously, Shotaro and Sungchan made their debut in NCT 2020 Resonance and also appeared on NCT 2021 Universe and other NCT content. The pre-debut group SM Rookies was reactivated and three new members Shohei, Eunseok and Seunghan were initially introduced as SM Rookies. They were later clearly connected to the NCT brand in the show Welcome to NCT Universe and included in NCT merchandise until the May announcement. Shohei left the group with medical issues, while the other members moved to the new group RIIZE. The new Tokyo members were participants in a survival show, NCT Universe Lastart, which featured two newly introduced SM Rookies, Sion and Yushi, as guaranteed members. The other 10 SM trainees competed for four spots with a series of performances assessed by senior SM artists and SM management. The final group was announced in Sept. 2023: Sion, Riku, Yushi, Jungmin, Daeyoung, Ryo and Sakuya. The unit made its first pre-debut appearance as a group as an opening act for the NCT Nation shows in Japan in September 2023.

III. Member Subunits

IIII. WayV Kun & Xiaojun

This was the first member sub-unit of one of the NCT fixed units, which released its debut single in June 2021. This member unit from WayV included two of the group's 3 main vocalists.

IIIII. WayV Ten & YangYang

This was the second member sub-unit of one of the NCT fixed units, which released its debut single in August 2021. This member unit from WayV included the group's two main dancers. A third unit, WayV Lucas & Hendery, was announced but never launched due to Lucas' hiatus.

IIIIII. NCT DoJaeJung

This was the third member sub-unit of one of the NCT fixed units, which released its debut EP in April 2023. However, SM considers this the first fixed member unit. This unit featured Doyoung, Jaehyun and Jungwoo of NCT 127 and is based in Korea.

IV. NCT Projects

IVI. Empathy

In January 2018, SM announced the NCT 2018 project which would involve all 18 members of NCT. The album NCT 2018 Empathy was released on March 14 with six lead singles from all current units of NCT. NCT U released three singles "Boss" (Taeyong, Mark, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Winwin, Lucas, and Jungwoo), "Baby Don't Stop" (Taeyong and Ten), and "Yestoday" (Taeyong, Doyoung, Mark, and Lucas). NCT 127 released "Touch", NCT Dream released "Go", and "Black on Black" was credited to NCT 2018.

IVII. Resonance

In September 2020, SM announced the NCT 2020 project. All four units of NCT would come together with two new members (Shotaro and Sungchan). NCT Resonance, Pt. 1 was released on October 12 with the lead singles "Make a Wish (Birthday Song)" (Taeyong, Doyoung, Jaehyun, Lucas, Xiaojun, Jaemin, and Shotaro) and "From Home" (Taeil, Yuta, Kun, Doyoung, Renjun, Haechan, and Chenle). The album sold more than 1.1 million copies. On November 23, Resonance, Pt. 2 was relesed with the lead singles "90s Love" (Ten, Winwin, Mark, Jeno, Haechan, Yangyang, and Sungchan) and "Work It" (Johnny, Yuta, Ten, Jungwoo, Hendery, Jaemin, and Jisung). On December 4, "Resonance" a special single featuring all 23 members of NCT was released. This is the last album to feature Lucas.

IVIII. Universe

In June 2021, SM revealed that there were plans for a NCT 2021 project. On November 13, it was officially announced that NCT would be releasing their third full album titled Universe. All four units of NCT would once again come together, however Winwin and Lucas would not be involved in the album (however Winwin does appear in select promotional teasers). The album released on December 14 with the dual title tracks "Universe (Let's Play Ball)" (Doyoung, Jungwoo, Mark, Xiaojun, Jeno, Haechan, Jaemin, Yangyang, and Shotaro) and "Beautiful" performed by 21 members of NCT. This is the last album to feature Shotaro and Sungchan.

IVIV. Golden Age

In February 2023, an all-unit album was announced for the year, which would feature all units and active members, tentatively scheduled for an August release. It was announced that Lucas was leaving the group to become a soloist and that Shotaro and Sungchan would leave the group to join the new group RIIZE, rather than the new and final Japanese NCT unit. The album was announced in August, in conjunction with the first all-unit NCT concerts, NCT Nation. It was also announced that the very first NCT U "The 7th Sense" unit would reunite for a song. The album was released on August 28 with the dual title tracks "Golden Age" (all members) and "Baggy Jeans" (7th Sense unit - Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten, Jaehyun and Mark.) "Golden Age" was prereleased ahead of the album and the songs made their debut in the first NCT Nation concert in Seoul on August 26 ahead of album release.

V. Members

VI. Active:

VII. Former

VI. Discography

VII. Photos

NCT 2020

VIII. Trivia

• Most of NCT's members were introduced to the public through the SMROOKIES program.
• In 2021, WayV added mini sub-units.
• Although originally announced in 2020, the fifth NCT sub-unit, NCT Tokyo (also know as NCT New Team) was announced as releasing in 2023.
• In 2023, the first fixed member unit was announced: NCT DoJaeJung.
• In 2023, the group ceased to be ever-expanding.
• In 2023, Lucas became the first member to leave the group.
• In 2023, SM announced Shotaro and Sungchan would leave NCT and debut in the new SM boy group, along with the SM Rookies members previously announced in conjunction with NCT.
• In 2023, the final NCT members were announced for the NCT Tokyo unit.
• All of the new NCT Tokyo members are younger than the existing members of the group.
• NCT Tokyo's maknae Sakuya becomes the entire group's maknae. Previously, Jisung of NCT Dream was NCT's maknae.
• NCT has recorded songs in five languages: Korean, Mandarin, English, Japanese and Thai.
• NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream and WayV have released a song in at least three languages. NCT U, WayV and NCT Dream have recorded in 4.