WINNER

**WINNER** (위너) is a four-member boy group under YG Entertainment. Originally as five, they debuted on August 12, 2014, with the full-length album *2014 S/S*.

They were formed in 2014 after winning the reality survival show *WIN: Who is Next*.

### Members

* Jinu
* Hoony
* Mino
* Yoon

## Career

**2010–2013: Pre-debut and Win: Who Is Next?**

In 2010, the group's leader Kang Seung-yoon was a contestant on Mnet's Superstar K2, finishing in fourth place. The following year, he signed with YGE and made his acting debut in the MBC sitcom High Kick: Revenge of the Short Legged. In 2013, he debuted as a solo artist and released multiple songs, including hit single "It Rains". In 2010, Kim Jin-woo was brought to the agency by Big Bang's Seungri through Joy Dance Plug In Music Academy. Nam Tae-hyun was recruited through audition in 2011. Lee Seung-hoon competed in SBS's K-pop Star in 2012, finishing in fourth place. Soon after, he signed under YGE the same year on May 22. Song Min-ho initially debuted under Y2Y Contents Company in the group BoM, which disbanded two years later. In 2013, he joined YGE through audition, after being noticed from his appearance in Channel A's The Strongest K-POP Survival.

On August 23, 2013, the five competed as "Team A" on Mnet survival program Win: Who Is Next against "Team B", consisting of trainees they also have trained with under the label. Throughout the span of 100 days, the show consisted of three rounds of performances and public voting. During the finale, on October 25 Team A was announced as the winners thus claiming the title "Winner" and commencing with preparation for debut. They performed as the opening act at labelmate senior Big Bang's Japanese dome tour beginning on November 15. From December 13, Winner broadcast their reality program, Winner TV, consisting of ten episodes on Mnet showcasing their debut preparation and lifestyle.

**2014: Debut with 2014 S/S and immediate success**

On March 1 and 2, 2014 Winner performed as guests at labelmate senior 2NE1's All or Nothing tour in Seoul. Winner continued appearing as guest performers in other stops of 2NE1's second world tour, including Hong Kong on March 22, April 11 in China, April 26 and 27 in Taiwan, May 17 in Philippines and May 24 in Malaysia. In the midst of touring with 2NE1, Winner joined the YG Family Power World Tour from April 12. Between June and August, the group members were re-introduced to the public after eight months in anticipation for their debut, through series of teaser images and videos. Ahead of their debut, on August 6 Winner held a showcase in the form of a launch party with an audience of 400 attendees. The event held a fashion show with models from YGKPlus on the runway, ultimately finishing with the members themselves in their unique suits. South Korean media revealed such an event was uncommon and fresh. The show gave an insight to the classy image the group will bring through their debut with the digital release of studio album 2014 S/S on August 12 and the physical release on August 14.

After several delays, the group officially debuted on August 17 with lead singles "Empty" and "Color Ring", also marking their first music show appearance on SBS' Inkigayo. The quintet became the fastest group to win on a music show through M! Countdown, doing so in five days. 2014 S/S charted at number one on the Gaon Album Chart as well as the Billboard World Albums Chart, while lead singles "Empty" and "Color Ring" claimed first and third respectively on the Gaon Digital Chart. The Korea Herald cited the success of their lead single "Empty" as "unprecedented" for a newly debuted group, thus claiming the title "Monster rookies". Their commercial success earned them the 'Top 10 Artist' award on Melon Music Awards, followed by multiple 'Best New Artist' awards on shows including Golden Disc Awards and Gaon Chart Music Awards. Winner also found success in China, soon earning the Best New Force Group award at the QQ Music Awards alongside the Most Popular Korean Group award on the Youku Tudou Young Choice 2014.

On September 10, Winner released the Japanese version of their album, 2014 S/S: Japan Collection which peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon Weekly Album Chart, selling 35,079 copies in four days. They embarked on their first Japan tour the next day, later successfully concluding the tour in Tokyo on October 11, drawing 50,000 people in total. On December 9, Fuse announced their 13 Top Breakout Artists of 2014, with Winner at number 11, being the only South Korean artists on the list. Dazed Digital revealed their top 20 K-pop tracks of 2014 on December 17 with Winner's "Color Ring" placing tenth.

**2015–2016: Hiatus, international recognition and Taehyun's departure**

Despite the group's successful debut, in 2015, Winner was put on hiatus while members of the group pursued solo endeavors while simultaneously embarking on their second Japan tour beginning in September, and finishing in October with over 36,000 attendees. In December, they were revealed to be returning in 2016 with five 'project releases', where the first was a "warm-up" duet featuring Mino and Nam, titled "Pricked".

In the lead-up to the group's official comeback, a number of musical covers of their lead singles were released as promotional teasers, featured artists include Lee Hi, Dean, AKMU, Zion.T, Epik High, Taeyang and G-Dragon. Winner returned with EP Exit : E on February 1, 18 months since 2014 S/S. Exit : E debuted at Number 2 on Billboard's World Albums Chart and Number 1 on the Gaon Album chart. Lead singles "Baby Baby" and "Sentimental" topped all eight music streaming platforms in South Korea and achieved a real-time "all-kill", further proving their title as "digital monsters". Their lead single "Baby Baby" received profound attention in China, becoming the most streamed song within the first half of the year among Korean releases on QQ Music, the largest music platform in China. Winner held their first-ever concert tour nationwide starting on March 12 and 13 at Olympic Gymnasiums Arena in Seoul. The group also held additional stops in Gwangju, Daegu and Busan in April.

From April 23, Winner's variety show Half-Moon Friends aired on JTBC, which gained popularity both domestically and abroad, particularly garnering over 75 million views via Miaopai and surpassing 100 million views through other platforms in China. Their heightened success in China led them to winning the Overseas Popularity Award at the MTV Asia Music Gala. In June, the group brought their Exit Tour to Japan, drawing over 36,000 fans in Japan alone. On October 12, YGE announced Nam would be taking a break due to health problems, thus the rest of the Exit Movement series would be delayed indefinitely. On November 25, Nam's departure from the group was announced, soon deciding to continue as four.

**2017–2018: Reformation, continued success and Everywhere World Tour**

After 14 months of hiatus, on April 4, 2017, Winner made their anticipated return as four with single album Fate Number For and lead singles "Really Really" and "Fool". Notably, the music video for "Really Really" was filmed by director Dave Meyers. Domestically, "Really Really" achieved placing number one on Gaon, while also debuting at No. 3 on Billboard World Digital Song Sales, marking the group's best position to date. "Really Really" was also chosen to be on the Apple Music's "Best of the Week" list. "Really Really" went on to creating the record of surpassing 100 million streams, making Winner the first ever male idol group in history to achieve this while keeping their "Chart-In" status. As part of their promotions, Winner held a three-day "concept showroom" showcase, from April 2 to 4, located at Club NB in Seoul. On May 31, they released their debut Japanese single, containing Japanese renditions of "Really Really" and "Fool". On August 4, Winner made a comeback with the single album Our Twenty For including lead singles, "Love Me Love Me" and "Island". "Love Me Love Me" was chosen by Dazed Digital as one of the 20 best K-Pop songs of 2017. Through tvN's New Journey to the West 4, Mino's wish to appear on Youth Over Flowers with his fellow Winner members was granted as a special supplementary show. Filming for Winner's Youth Over Flowers took place in West Australia while airing began on November 7. On November 30, Kang and Mino released the soundtrack, "The Door" for tvN's Prison Playbook, where Kang starred in.

On February 7, 2018, Winner released their first Japanese studio album, Our Twenty For, consisting new Japanese songs, "Raining" and "Have a Good Day". Soon after, the group embarked on their third Japan tour, "We'll Always Be Young". On April 4, Winner released their second studio album Everyday with lead single "Everyday" consisting of twelve songs including Korean versions of "Raining" and "Have a Good Day". The single became the group's first time experimenting with the genre, trap alongside reuniting with director Dave Meyers for the music video. On June 17, Winner successfully held their fan meeting, "WWIC 2018", 3 years since their last private stage in 2015. A total of 6,000 tickets were sold out. On July 4, Winner announced their first-ever world tour, Everywhere, starting in Seoul on August 19, followed seven stops throughout Asia. The tour resumed in January 2019 with an encore tour in Seoul. The same month, Winner branched their Everywhere tour to North America beginning with Seattle, followed six other cities including Los Angeles, Dallas, and Toronto. On November 26, Mino made his solo debut with studio album XX and lead single "Fiancé". The lead single topped Gaon's Digital and Streaming charts for the month of December. On December 19, Winner returned with single album Millions with lead single of the same name. Millions soon claimed the number two spot on Gaon, and received six music show wins.

**2019: New music experiments and Cross Asia Tour**

On May 15, Winner released their second EP We, alongside lead single, "Ah Yeah". The single received positive reviews among the public for its cool lyrics that sublimates the realistic emotions of a cold-hearted breakup thus ultimately creating a cheerful breakup song. Through their comeback, the group entered the Gaon Chart with a triple crown, where "Ah Yeah" peaked at number one and two respectively on the Gaon Download and Digital Chart while EP We claimed number one on the Album Chart, selling over 129,000 physical copies. Winner performed their first broadcast stage for "Ah Yeah" on May 18 at MBC's Show! Music Core. On June 29, the group successfully held their private stage, WWIC 2019. The show was held twice within the same day at Jang Chung Gymnasium, Seoul. On July 3, Winner commenced on their 2019 concert tour in Japan starting with their concert at Nakano Sun Plaza in Tokyo while ending on September 16 at Marine Messe in Fukuoka. The tour garnered a total audience of 50,000 attendees in eight cities. On August 14, Kim Jin-woo became the third member of Winner to release solo material after Kang Seung-yoon and Mino. Kim made his solo debut with single album Jinu's Heyday and lead single "Call Anytime" (또또또) featuring bandmate Mino. The single album charted number two on Gaon Chart selling over 50,000 physical copies within the first week. Kim performed his first stage on August 17, also marking Winner's debut anniversary on MBC's Show! Music Core alongside bandmate Mino.

Winner released their third EP Cross with lead single "Soso" on October 23 ahead of Cross Tour. The music video for the lead single was well acclaimed and praised for its artistry and symbolism. Billboard stated: "The rawness of human emotion is relayed through intense scenes acted out by the group's members. Feelings of being stomped on and tied up by emotions and those around you are acted out, as is the idea of baring it all, a rarity in the K-pop world, while emotions such as lethargy, anger and melancholy are expressed through a variety of moments splintered across the screen". Through this comeback, Winner pushed out of the boundaries of "K-pop" and did what was considered an "anomaly" within the industry. With their Asian tour beginning in Seoul on October 26, the tour visited nine cities throughout Asia continuing onto February 2020. Later, it was revealed their stop in Singapore was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, soon also followed by the cancellation of their Seoul encore concert. The series of events led to the group holding a free online live concert entitled "Winner Cross Special Live" through Naver V Live on February 14, 2020, where they performed live singing and dancing for 2 hours, garnering almost 1 million attendees.

**2020–present: Remember and military enlistment**

On March 26, 2020, Winner's pre-release single titled "Hold" (뜸) charted number one on multiple South Korean music platforms including Naver, Bugs and Soribada. The music video gained various attention for its amusing and witty plot where label-mate Lee Su-hyun of AKMU played the group's little sister. Winner initiated a "Ddeum Challenge" on TikTok which garnered the attention of many while becoming a trending challenge within South Korea. Celebrities who partook included 2NE1's Sandara Park, model Hyoni Kang, CIX's Seunghun and Hyunsuk and many more.

Ahead of Winner's third studio album release on April 9, Kim Jin-woo became the first member to enlist and serve his mandatory military service on April 2, thus temporarily halting all full-group activities until all four members return after completing their mandatory enlistment. The studio album, entitled Remember, contains eight new songs, including its lead single of the same name and pre-release single, alongside four re-recorded songs from their debut album, 2014 S/S. Notably, the album recorded their highest first week sales since debut. Following Kim Jin-woo, Lee Seung-hoon became the second member to enlist on April 16.

The members of Winner renewed their contracts with YG Entertainment for five more years in August 2021.

Jin-woo was discharged on December 31, 2021, followed by Seung-hoon on January 15, 2022. On February 18, 2022, YG Entertainment announced Winner will hold their first full-group concert in two years on April 30 and May 1. While the April 30 event will only run in person at the Olympic Park Olympic Hall in Seoul, the concert on May 1 will also be available for online streaming.