BTOB

BtoB (Born to Beat) is a K-pop boy band created by Cube Entertainment that rose to mainstream success with chart-topping releases like 2014's Beep Beep EP and the 2015 album Complete. They also made their Japanese debut around this time, hitting number one with the album 24/7. BtoB remained popular during the second half of the decade and rolled out two subgroups, BtoB Blue and BtoB 4U. In 2021, the 4U: Outside EP came out under the BtoB umbrella and featured the group's currently active members. Celebrating ten years together, the band released their third album, Be Together, in 2022 then formed their own label a year later for releases like the sub-group 90Tan and the 2025 BtoB EP BTODAY. BtoB debuted live on the show M Countdown in March 2012 as a seven-member group consisting of Seo Eun-kwang, Lee Min-hyuk, Lee Chang-sub, Im Hyun-sik, Peniel Shin, Yook Sung-jae, and Jung Il-hoon. A month later, they issued their self-titled Born to Beat debut EP which featured early songs "Insane" and "Imagine." They also starred in their first reality program, Amazon. A succession of EPs appeared over the next two years before BtoB broke through to number one on the South Korean pop charts in 2014. That year, all three of their EPs, Beep Beep, Move, and The Winter's Tale, hit number one, as did their debut album, Complete, a year later. 2016 proved to be another strong year as the band diversified with their first Japanese album, 24/7, formed the subgroup BtoB Blue, featuring members Eun-kwang, Chang-sub, Hyun-sik, and Sung-jae. In 2017, the full group released their second Korean album, Brother Act, which also managed to chart in America on the Billboard U.S. World Albums chart. After 2018's This Is Us EP, BtoB's membership altered when Eun-kwang started his mandatory military service. Min-hyuk took his turn as leader on Hour Moment, then he, too, was called to military duty. By 2020, Hyun-sik and Sung-jae were also serving their military commitments and the remaining members formed another sub-unit, BtoB 4U, which released the 2021 EP 4U: Outside. A year later, BtoB returned in full-force with all six members to release their third proper album, Be Together. A success in both South Korea and Japan, its release also coincided with the group's tenth anniversary, which they celebrated with a series of concerts at the end of 2022. With their 2023 EP Wind and Wash, BtoB's contract with Cube Entertainment was up and they created their own label to handle future band and solo releases. 2024 saw the appearance of the Eun-kwang and Min-hyuk sub-group 90Tan, along with full-band singles like "Be Alright" and "Hi Beautiful." The latter track was also included on BtoB's 2025 EP BTODAY. ~ Timothy Monger, Rovi