NCT 127, sub-unit to the group NCT, is a South Korea-based boy group, and the number 127 marks the longitude of Seoul. The group is managed by SM Entertainment, alongside other three other NCT subunits NCT U, WayV and NCT DREAM. They debuted in July of 2016 with originally seven members: Taeyong, Mark, Jaehyun, Taeil, Winwin, Yuta, and Haechan, while in 2017 Doyoung and Johnny were added to the line-up as also Jungwoo in 2018.
NCT is short for Neo Culture Technology which means that they’re a new kind of group that can have an unlimited amount of members and units.
On July 7, 2016, NCT 127 released their debut single titled “Fire Truck,” which served as the title track off of their first, self-titled mini album. Since then, they’ve also managed to receive multiple accolades during the 2016 music award show season, notably at the MNET Asian Music Awards or MelOn Music Awards.
On January 6, 2017, they made their first comeback as a nine-piece group with their second EP (and furthermore their second project to top the Gaon Albums Chart), titled LIMITLESS, featuring the title track of the same name as also the so-called B-sides, including the fan-favorite “Baby Don’t Like It.” In mid-June of the same year, their third mini album, CHERRY BOMB has seen its daylight, while the title track gave them first ever music show win, became one of their signature songs and was praised by many tabloids, such as Billboard and Idolator. In early November, the Japanese version of “Limitless” dropped, which in December made the group sign with Avex Trax for the future releases in Japan.
In early 2018, NCT 127 released “Touch,” the fourth single from NCT 2018 Empathy, a full-length album as a part of a singular-year project by their parental group which brought its all of the three (at that time) units to perform in mixed formations. After that in late May, they started promoting their first Japanese EP, Chain. Whereas, in October of the same year the group dropped their debut studio album, Regular-Irregular with eleven new tracks, such as the Korean and English version of “Regular,” with the former being the project’s title track and the latter receiving instant recognition amongst the listeners. Its reissue, titled Regulate, featuring “Simon Says,” was released in November. Unfortunately, Winwin didn’t join the promotions of the repackage album and went on indefinite hiatus to focus on his participation in NCT’s China-based unit, WayV. Haechan also halted his activities in the group in late December due to major injuries.
NCT 127 released their 4th EP, We Are Superhuman on May 24th, 2019 which became a major commercial success for the group, especially in the USA. With the EP, NCT 127 became 2nd highest charting K-Pop act on the Billboard 200 chart when the album debuted at #11 also being that week’s top-selling digital album. With their continued success in the western music market, NCT 127 has extensively promoted and performed at several American TV talk shows. The group has also released English versions of several songs. In 2019, the group also embarked on their first concert tour, NEO CITY – The Origin visiting cities in Asia, North America, and Europe.
In 2020, NCT 127 released their 2nd studio album, Neo Zone. The original album and the repackaged version sold a total of more than 1 million copies. Making them one of the few K-Pop artists to hit the milestone.