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

The Korea JoongAng Daily is choosing 15 top K-pop acts to look back over their golden 2023 and a possible Golden Disc nomination. The second is NCT, SM Entertainment’s biggest — both figuratively and literally — boy band and its "Golden Age" of 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.

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. Read the full story here at Celeb Confirmed.

BY YOON SO-YEON [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]