Super Junior

Super Junior (also known as SuJu or SJ) is a South Korean boy group of the second K-pop generation, founded by producer Lee Soo-Man under S.M. Entertainment. The group originally consisted of 12 members (Leeteuk, Heechul, Hankyung, Kangin, Yesung, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook and Kibum) and was known as the biggest boy band in the world. On November 6, 2005, the group debuted on SBS's music program Popular Song with their single Twins (Knock Out), under the name Super Junior 05. A year later, they received their 13th member Kyuhyun and were finally named Super Junior. In 2008, Henry and Zhoumi joined the group as official members of the sub-group Super Junior-M.

Super Junior achieved worldwide success in 2009 with the release of their album called Sorry, Sorry with the title track Sorry, Sorry. Over the years, sub-groups have been formed specializing in different genres of music in order to exploit the full potential of the members. The most famous sub-group is Super Junior-M, which was formed to also participate in the Chinese music market, making the group mainly active in China. In addition, members Kyuhyun, Ryeowook and Yesung have already released solo albums and are active in the general media industry.

In 2000, S.M. Entertainment held its first casting in China and recruited Hangkyung, who came out on top from around 3,000 applicants. In the same year, Leeteuk, Yesung and Eunhyuk joined after being accepted as trainees at a casting in Seoul. Sungmin and Donghae were also accepted after they both won first place in one of S.M. Entertainment's competitions. In 2002, Kibum was discovered in Los Angeles by an agent of the agency and was recruited together with Heechul and Kangin. Siwon was scouted by the agency in 2003 and also became a trainee, with Shindong following in 2004. Ryeowook was accepted as another trainee in 2005 after winning the 2004 Chin Chin Youth Festival singing competition, just two months before his debut. Kyuhyun became a trainee with S.M. Entertainment in 2005 after winning third place at the 2005 Chin Chin Youth Festival and joined the group in 2006.

At the beginning of 2005, Lee Soo-man announced that he wanted to debut the band with 12 members by the end of the year. He named the group "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia" as most of the members already had experience as actors, MCs, models and DJs before the debut. Inspired by the rational concept of the Japanese band Morning Musume, Lee Soo-man planned to replace members annually to keep the group "young". This concept was unheard of in K-pop. As the agency always referred to the group as Juniors, this name soon caught on and eventually became Super Junior. As the twelve members were to be the first generation of Super Juniors, the group was officially named Super Junior 05.

Super Junior 05 made a pre-debut on Korean channel Mnet on September 11, 2005, where they performed various types of hip-hop and danced to B2K's "Take It to the Floor". Hankyung, Eunhyuk and Donghae also danced to Usher's "Chaught Up".

Super Junior 05 made their official debut on SBS's music program Popular Song on November 6, 2005, where they presented their first single "Twins (Knock Out)". A download single featuring "Twins (Knock Out)", "You are the One", and three additional songs was released online just two days later on November 8, followed by their debut album "Twins" on December 6, 2005, which sold 28,536 copies in its first month and became the third best-selling album of December.

In February 2006, they began performing "Miracle", another song from their debut album, which topped the charts in Thailand and gained international attention. S.M. Entertainment began recruiting members for the next generation, Super Junior 06, and prepared a list of members who would drop out. However, the agency eventually scrapped this concept and only brought a 13th member, Cho Kyuhyun, into the group, with Super Junior losing the "05" suffix and officially becoming Super Junior.