In the first half of the year, each unit in NCT released an album. We were even blessed with a sub-unit of a sub-unit! Each unit has reached new heights in sales and on charts following the record-breaking NCT 2020 promotions. Chart-topping albums across multiple countries, platinum certifications, and millions of streams have all helped solidify NCT’s impact on the Asian music industry. From the first trilingual song to hit Billboards Global 200, to exploring outside of their comfort zone with new collaborators, 2021 is NCT’s year…and they’re just getting started. (Note: All data was collected by 06/23/21)
Music Round Up
So far this year we’ve gotten 1 hour, 40 minutes, and 5 seconds of new NCT music. On Spotify, we’ve streamed this a total of 106,725,781 times. We’ve collectively bought over 2,468,000 albums (that’s a lot of photocards) with more coming our way throughout the year.
LOVEHOLIC
Date Released: 02.17.21
Total Time: 16:47
Oricon
- #1 on Oricon’s Weekly Album Chart
- #1 on Oricon’s Daily Album Chart
Billboard Japan
- #1 on the Billboard Japan Hot Albums
- #1 on the Weekly Billboard Japan Top Albums Sales
- #7 on the mid-year Billboard Japan Top Album Sales
- #10 on the mid-year Billboard Japan Hot Albums
Melon J-Pop Chart
- #2 on MelOn’s Weekly J-Pop Chart (Gimme Gimme)
- #1 on MelOn’s Daily J-Pop Chart (Gimme Gimme)
Spotify: 26,622,625 – Total
- Most streamed track: Gimme Gimme: 13,293,551
Album sales: 205,000+ total-to-date // 133,000 first week of release
KICK BACK
Date Released: 03.11.21
Total Time: 21:11
- #4 QQ Music Popularity Charts (Kick Back)
- #1 QQ TOP1 Charts
- #1 QQ Mainland Music Video Chart
- #2 QQ Global Music Video Chart
Yo!Bang
- #7 Yo!Bang Charts
Oricon
- #13 Oricon Albums Chart
Billboard
- #35 Billboard Japan Hot Albums
Apple
- #1 Worldwide iTunes Album Charts
- #18 Worldwide Apple Music Album Chart
Melon
- #1 – #7 on MelOn’s World Music Chart
Gaon Charts
- #1 Weekly Album Sales Chart
- Platinum certification
Spotify: 20,016,465 – Total Streams
- Most streamed track: Kick Back: 7,496,942
Album sales: 263,000+ sales // 124,831 first week of release
HOT SAUCE
Date Released: 05.10.21
Total Time: 35:09
Melon
- #1 Melon Daily Chart
- #1 Melon Weekly Chart
- Double Platinum Certification
Oricon
- #1 Oricon Weekly Albums Chart
- #1 OriconMonthly Albums Chart
Billboard
- #2 Billboard Japan Hot Albums
- #8 Billboard World Songs
- #10 Billboard World Albums
- #24 Billboard Heatseekers Albums
- #51 Billboard Global 200 (excl. U.S.)
- #96 Billboard Global 200
Gaon
- #1 Gaon Monthly Albums Chart
- #1 Gaon Weekly Albums Chart
- #1 Gaon Digital Downloads Chart
- Double Platinum Certification
Spotify: 60,086,691
- Most streamed track: Hot Sauce: 21,801,311
Album Sales: 2,000,000+ sales // 1,010,700 first week sales
DIGITAL RELEASES:
Back To You (album) – Kun & Xiaojun
- Spotify: 577,373
WE DO – SuperM
- Spotify: 2,834,273
Too Good – Imlay & Chenle
- Spotify: 572,123
DOLL – Doyoung & Baekhyun
- Spotify: 1,372,804
The Moon – Moon Sujin & Taeil
- Spotify: 2,154,092
Now N New 2021 – Various Artists ft Doyoung
- Spotify: 19,849
A Beautiful Human Being – Taeil
- Spotify: 38,167
SAVE – NCT 127
- Spotify: 2,641,821
Total number of albums sold (so far): 2,468,000+
YouTube Rewind
NCT has shown enormous growth in half a year and the numbers on YouTube are definite proof. On January 14, 2021, SM Entertainment restructured and ceased uploading onto the NCT Daily, NCT Music and NCT Dance channels due to a new YouTube policy streamlining all content for artists on official accounts only. As a result most content has migrated mostly onto the main NCT YouTube channel and occasionally each individual unit’s channel. At the end of 2020 NCT’s YouTube channel stood at 2.61M subscribers with 112,411,416 total views. The official NCT channel’s subscribers have now multiplied in only 6 months to 3.84M subs and 241,453,171 views.
Let’s rewind on all NCT related YouTube channels in the first half of 2021!
NCT Official YouTube Channel
Total Videos: 63+ videos
Breakdown
- Performance Content: N/A
- Variety Content: 61 videos, 15:47:38
- Covers: 2 videos, KUN, CHENLE free love (HONNE) cover 1.7M views, 276K likes, 21K comments & Doyoung Falling (Harry Styles) cover 2.6M views, 437K likes, 25K comments
Most Watched, Liked and Commented & Variety: ⏱JAEMIN: 11AM-12PM | NCT 24hr RELAY CAM, 4M views, 589K likes, 34K comments
So far this year, we’ve spent 15 hours, 53 minutes and 5 seconds watching NCT content on their official YouTube channel.
WayV: Kick Back
On March 10, 2021 WayV was the first NCT unit to make a comeback in 2021 with their third mini-album titled Kick Back. Their title track, “Kick Back” has already garnered 20 million views. Throughout the comeback they’ve released a variety of content from different series to performances. The WayV channel started the year with 2.21M subscribers and has since then gained around 700K more coming in at 2.91M subscribers at present. Their channel has accumulated 229,814,203 total views, a large leap from the 131,906,059 they had in January 2021.
Kick Back MV: 20M views, 1.4M likes, 316K comments
Back To You MV: 1.9M views, 450K likes, 66K comments
Total Videos: 53+ released in 2021
Breakdown
- Performance Content: 5 videos, 24:43
- Variety Content: 47 videos, 7:46:18
- Covers: 1 video, Xiaojun’s EXO For Life (English Ver), 2.2M views, 344K likes, 26K comments
Most Watched, Liked, and Commented: Action Figure Performance Video, 9.7M views, 541K likes, 39K comments
Most Watched Variety: [WayV-ariety] Home with WayV, 1.5M views, 200K likes, 10K comments
So far this year, we’ve spent 8 hours, 14 minutes and 16 seconds watching WayV content during the Kick Back Era.
NCT Dream: Hot Sauce
NCT Dream was the next unit to make a comeback in 2021 with their first full length album, Hot Sauce. Their spicy lead single, “Hot Sauce” broke records for quickly reaching 34.2 million views within the first 24 hours of it’s release and has since racked up 108 million views on YouTube. The growth of their channel is expected with this extremely successful comeback. In fact their channel has grown from 2.03M to 3.51M subscribers in under half a year. Fans are clearly loving the content as their videos have been viewed 283,496,126 times, an exponentially huge leap from 35,291,633 views at the start of the year.
Hot Sauce MV: 108M views, 3M likes, 1.1M comments
Total Videos: 108+ released in 2021
Breakdown
- Performance Content: 59 videos, 3:11:38
- Variety Content: 49 videos, 13:23:53
- Covers: N/A
Most Watched & Liked: Hot Sauce with Pinkfong REDREX, 12M views, 471K likes
Most Watched Variety: Welcome To Our Home | 7’llin in the DREAM | Ep. 1, 3.7M views, 460K likes, 35K comments
So far this year, we’ve spent 16 hours, 35 minutes and 31 seconds watching NCT Dream content during the Hot Sauce Era.
NCT 127: Loveholic + Save
The 127 unit started off the new year with a Japanese comeback with title track, “gimme gimme” from their 2nd EP Loveholic. More recently – although it wasn’t a full Korean comeback – NCT 127 released an EDM single, “Save” alongside Amoeba Culture for the Samsung Memory Collaboration on June 4, 2021. The song promotes green technology and reducing carbon footprints and has become their most viewed video on their channel. Their total subscriber amount increased from 2.44M to 3.4M within the first half of 2021. Even without a comeback so far this year their views have flourished to a whopping 275,454,621 compared to January’s view count of 11,921,920.
gimme gimme MV: 31M views, 1.7M likes, 307K comments
Save MV: 10M views, 1M likes, 91K comments
Total Videos: 25+ videos released in 2021
Breakdown
- Performance Content: 3 videos, 7:36
- Variety Content: 23 videos, 4:36:32
- Covers: N/A
Most Watched & Liked: Save MV, 10M views, 1M likes
Most Watched Variety: K-학교 안 다녀봤구나 너네?｜시티고 1학년 27반｜1교시 – YouTube 4.4M views, 430K likes, 15K comments
So far this year, we’ve spent 4 hours, 47 minutes and 8 seconds watching NCT 127 content during the Loveholic/Save Era.
SuperM: We DO
This year, older members Baekhyun and Taemin were expected to complete their mandatory military service, so many fans didn’t expect any new content from SuperM. The group surprised fans by squeezing in one last final release with the funky upbeat “We DO” in collaboration with life insurance company, Prudential Corporation Asia. Despite the limited content release they’ve still managed to grow from 2.11M subscribers to 2.42M this year. Their viewership count has also now totalled to 166,588,667.
We DO MV: 11M views, 1.1M likes, 190K comments
Total Videos: 10+ videos released in 2021
Breakdown
- Performance Content: 7 videos, 4:40
- Variety Content: 3 videos, 26:49
- Covers: N/A
Most Watched Video & Variety: Don’t Call Me MV reaction, 3.5M views, 13K comments
So far this year, we’ve spent 31 minutes and 29 seconds watching SuperM content during the We DO Era.
Overall Time in First Half 2021 on YouTube: 46 hours, 1 minute, and 29 seconds
Overall Views in First Half 2021 on YouTube: 333,711,000
Music Shows
Despite not being able to perform in front of a live audience, NCT performed virtually on music shows for fans all around the world to enjoy. From using props on stage to soulful duets, NCT has continued to give us dynamic performances in 2021. The first half of the year also saw Jaehyun’s year long reign as a host of Inkigayo come to a close. However, we did not have to go Neo-less as he passed the mantle to Sungchan.
Altogether there’s been a total of 34 music show performances this year. Hot Sauce is the most awarded NCT song so far with 8 wins from 5 different programs.
Gimmie Gimmie – 2 performances
- Music Station: 1
- CDTV!: 1
Kickback – 11 performances
- Inkigayo: 2
- Music Bank: 2
- Music Core: 2
- MCountdown!: 2
- Show Champion: 1
- The Show: 2
Hot Sauce – 12 performances
- Inkigayo: 3
- Music Bank: 3
- Music Core: 3
- MCountdown!: 3
Dive Into You (B-Side) – 5 performances
- Inkigayo: 1
- Music Bank: 1
- Music Core: 1
- Mcountdown: 2
Back To You – 5 performances
- Inkigayo: 1
- Music Core: 1
- Mcountdown: 1
- Show Champion: 1
- The Show: 1
Total wins: 8: Hot Sauce (Inkigayo – 1, Music Bank – 2, Music Core – 1, MCountdown! – 3, Show Champion – 1)
Total Appearances: 30 // Total Stages: 34
Variety
Not only did NCT keep fans entertained with music, but they also participated in variety programs to give fans a glimpse of their personalities! There is enough content to last up to 36 hours,18 minutes, and 47 seconds– just over a day and a half!
- WayVision Season 2: Winter Sports Channel (4:03:01)
- 12 episodes
- 7llin’ in the DREAM (2:58:27)
- 6 episodes
- Boys Mental Training Camp 2 – NCT Dream (4:13:27)
- 10 episodes
- Lucas on Keep Running Season 9 (20:07:04)
- 12 episodes
- Guest Appearances
- The Daily Show Special (00:27:28)
- Super Junior Idol vs. Idol Ep. 37-40 (3:00:00)
- 4 episodes
- Winwin and Lucas on Happy Camp (20210515) (1:29:20)
- 1 episode
While not much is known about what is to come in the second half of 2021, NCTzens can look forward to NCT Dream’s upcoming Weekly Idol episode and NCT 127’s upcoming SM C&C STUDIO program Analog Trip Season 2.
On Air
NCT are known as a unit, but they are also a group of spectacular individuals who shine outside of group promotions. Their individual projects include dramas, photoshoots, radio shows, soundcloud, and musicals. With so much under their belt, fans are certainly spoiled with content.
- Dramas
- Doyoung on Cafe Midnight Season 3 – The Curious Stalker
- Xiaojun on Hello My Youth
- Musicals:
- Doyoung as Axel Von Fersen in Marie Antoinette
- Photoshoots
- Jisung on Allure Korea (February)
- Yangyang at New York Fashion Week for Jarret (February)
- Sungchan on Allure Korea (March)
- Renjun on Elle Idol Digital Magazine (March)
- Doyoung and Jungwoo on Cosmopolitan Korea (March)
- WayV on L’Officiel Philippines N°1 (Spring) N°
- WayV on Dazed Korea (April)
- NCT 127 on Men’s Non-no (April)
- Doyoung on WKorea (May)
- NCT 127 on Elle Men Japan (May)
- Doyoung and Jungwoo on @Star1 Magazine (July)
- Yuta on GINGER Magazine (July)
- Radio Shows
- Chenle on Akdong Seoul
- Yuta on YUTA at Home
- Soundcloud:
Social Media
For many idols, social media the past year and now has been the best way for artists to connect with their fans in this global pandemic. Standing out amongst billions of content creators can be difficult but NCT has cracked the code spreading out to all sorts of platforms. They’ve demonstrated a great understanding of how to engage with fans with more than half of the members even opening their own personal accounts on Instagram.
VLIVE
On VLIVE all NCT members – with the exception of WayV and SuperM – stick to live streaming on the official NCT account and usually use their respective unit channels for uploads of performances, fancams, or teasers. Their consistent communication with fans has allowed them to stay within the top 5 channel rankings on the VLIVE app.
- 5,887,810 Members
- 504M plays
- 25.30B hearts
- 120M comments
- 102+ videos in 2021 (54 live streams)
- Most watched & liked Live: ?NCT 127 Day, See You Today?(01/27/2021) 5.7M plays, 255M hearts
- 3,555,333 Members
- 59.4M plays
- 3.18B hearts
- 9.1M comments
- 7+ videos in 2021
- Most watched & liked Live: ?NCT 127 Day, See You Today?(01/27/21) 5.7M plays, 255M hearts
- 3,117,311 Members
- 44.9M plays
- 2.9B hearts
- 7.1M comments
- 21+ videos in 2021
- Most watched & liked Live: NCT Dream (Hot Sauce Restaurant) (05/10/21) 5.3M plays, 343M hearts
- 957,123 Members
- 12.7M plays
- 961M hearts
- 3M comments
- 18+ videos in 2021 (5 live streams)
- Most watched & liked Live: WayV Comeback Kick Back (03/11/21) 1.3M plays, 61.3 hearts
- 642,469 Members
- 11.1M plays
- 795M hearts
- 1.1M comments
- 3 videos in 2021
All accounts have organically grown their following after the conclusion of the NCT2020 project group by keeping fans up to date with all member activities and announcements.
- @NCTsmtown
- January 2021: 5,380,810 followers
- Present: 6,718,181+ followers
- @NCTsmtown_127
- January 2021: 4,638,152 followers
- Present: 5,763,887+ followers
- @NCTsmtown_DREAM
- January 2021: 4,020,903 followers
- Present: 5,351,559+ followers
- @WayV_official
- January 2021: 1,459,800 followers
- Present: 1,813,017+ followers
- @superm
- January 2021: 2,392,619 followers
- Present: 2,855,262+ followers
Through Instagram the NCT members can get more personal with posts on their individual and main accounts. Members like Mark Lee has shared his own poetry, Xiaojun with short covers of songs, and Ten showing off his artwork.
- @nct
- January 2021: 8,474,774 followers
- Present: 10,485,369+ followers
- @nct127
- January 2021: 9,709,046 followers
- Present: 11,141,485+ followers
- @nct_dream
- January 2021: 5,302,924 followers
- Present: 6,690,122+ followers
- @wayvofficial
- January 2021: 4,601,180 followers
- Present: 5,733,609+ followers
- @superm
- January 2021: 4,953,025 followers
- Present: 5,283,494+ followers
- @kun11xd
- January 2021: 3.5M followers
- Present: 5.1M followers
- Most Liked post: Family Photo with WayV members 06/10/21 “❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️” 1.4M likes
- @tenlee_1001
- January 2021: 5.2M followers
- Present: 7.5M followers
- Most Liked post: Kick Back Dance practice with @lalalisa_m 3.36M likes, 8.71M plays
View this post on Instagram
- @wwiinn_7
- January 2021: 3.8M followers
- Present: 5M followers
- Most Liked post: 05/18/21 1.81M likes
- @lucas_xx444
- January 2021: 6.2M followers
- Present: 9.5M followers
- Most Liked post: 01/24/21 “Let me see?” selfie 3.22M likes
- @djxiao_888
- January 2021: 4M followers
- Present: 5.2M followers
- Most Liked post: 01/15/21 Xiaojun in school uniform for drama, Hello My Youth (2020) 1.38M likes
- @i_m_hendery
- January 2021: 3.7M followers
- Present: 4.6M followers
- Most Liked post: 06/04/21 “?” 1.52M likes
- @yangyang_x2
- January 2021: 3M followers
- Present: 4.6M followers
- Most Liked post: 06/04/21 “Photo by Renjun ❤️❤️” 1.24M likes
- @johnnyjsuh
- January 2021: 4.5M followers
- Present: 6M followers
- Most Liked post: 03/21/21 “i gave you my all, i went dooown. @onyourm__ark” 1.87M likes
- @yuu_taa_1026
- January 2021: 4M followers
- Present: 6M followers (Yuta is also the most followed Japanese male celebrity on IG as of 02/26/21)
- Most Liked post: 04/30/21 “Good morning ?” posing with statue busts 1.83M likes
- @_jeongjaehyun
- January 2021: 6M followers
- Present: 8M followers
- Most Liked post: 04/17/21 Date with Ten running hand through hair 3.18M likes
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- @na.jaemin0813
- January 2021: 3.8M followers
- Present: 5.8M followers
- Most Liked post: 03/16/21 Jaemin first pic of the year 2.62M likes
- @do0_nct
- January 2021: 4M followers
- Present: 6.9M followers
- Most Liked post: 04/30/21 “Why aren’t you sleeping” 2.32M likes
- @onyourm__ark
- Opened account 01/25/21
- Present: 5.2M followers
- Most Liked post: 01/25/21 “get set. go” first Instagram post 2.81M likes
- @taeoxo_nct
- Opened account 02/18/21
- Present: 5M followers
- Most Liked post: 02/18/21 First Instagram post 2.28M likes
- @_shotaroo_
- Opened account 04/16/21
- Present: 2.7M followers
- Most Liked post: 04/15/21 “Hi, I’m Shotaro~ ✌️✌️I’m back ㅋㅋㅋ” First Instagram post 1.61M likes
- @yellow_3to3
- Opened account 06/23/21
- Present: 1.8M followers
- Most Liked post: 06/23/21 First Instagram post 1.7M likes
TikTok
The members of NCT can get the most creative with the constantly changing trends of TikTok. WayV in particular have taken advantage of this platform the most by uploading funny videos that showcase their goofy personalities.
- @official_nct
- January 2021: 3M followers
- Present: 5.1M followers
- Likes: 79.9M
- Most Viewed & Liked: 05/11/21 #HotSauce challenge with Mark, Jeno, Jaemin and Jisung 13.9 views, 2.9M likes
@official_nct???????? #HotSauce #쉐킷쉐킷 #ShakeItShakeIt #NCTDREAM #NCT #MARK #JENO #JAEMIN #JISUNG♬ 맛 Hot Sauce – NCT DREAM
- @nct127_loveholic
- Present: 1.1M followers
- Likes: 6.1M
- Most Viewed & Liked: 02/10/21 Mark accepting chocolate 2.8M views, 814.8K likes
@nct127_loveholicギミギミ?#tiktokバレンタイン #NCT127 #Mark #nct127_loveholic #nct127_firstlove #ラブホリ♬ First Love (chorus2 version) – NCT 127
- @official_wayv
- January 2021: 200K followers
- Present: 3M followers
- Likes: 41.4M
- Most Viewed & Liked: 01/24/21 Lucas Emoji Song 14.6M views, 3.1M likes
@official_wayv#이모지따라하기 ?????#LUCAS #黄旭熙 #WayV #威神V♬ Cute Emoji Song (pls like original video thanku) – hidjabtagykyz
- @superm_smtown
- January 2021: 1.2M followers
- Present: 1.5M followers
- Likes: 7.4M
- Most Viewed & Liked: 01/21/21 Lucas dancing “We DO” 577.8K views, 178.9K likes
@superm_smtown? “Ride the vibe side to side!” #WeDO #PRUxSuperM #SuperM #SuperM_Prudential #SuperM_WeDo #LUCAS♬ 오리지널 사운드 – SuperM
Similar to Twitter, fans can get all news coverage of NCT’s upcoming activities and announcements on Facebook.
- NCT: 3M followers
- NCT 127: 2.5M followers
- NCT Dream: 1.2M followers
- WayV: 833,988 followers
- SuperM: 696,332 followers
NCT has been able to accomplish a lot in just half a year. Be sure to read about NCT’s achievements from 2020 in a complete recap here.
Thumbnail by Niamh
