Tomorrow X Together

Tomorrow X Together (Korean: 투모로우바이투게더; Tomorrow by Together, stylized in all caps), commonly abbreviated as TXT, is a South Korean boy band formed by Big Hit Entertainment. The group consists of five members: Yeonjun, Soobin, Beomgyu, Taehyun, and Hueningkai.

They debuted on March 4, 2019, with the extended play (EP) The Dream Chapter: Star. The EP debuted and peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and Billboard World Albums Chart and entered the US Billboard 200 at number 140, the highest-charting debut album by any male K-pop group at the time. Its lead single "Crown" debuted at number one on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. The group also topped the Billboard Emerging Artists chart. TXT was the first Korean boy band to perform and headline at Lollapalooza, one of the biggest music festivals in the US.

The band's early commercial success earned them several new artist awards, including Rookie of the Year at the 34th Golden Disc Awards and the 2019 Melon Music Awards, New Artist of the Year at the 9th Gaon Chart Music Awards, and Best New Male Artist at the 2019 Mnet Asian Music Awards.

Name

In Korean, the group's name is 투모로우바이투게더, which is "Tomorrow by Together" transliterated into Hangul; they do not have a separate Korean version of their name. According to their website, their name refers to five individuals who "come together under one dream in hopes of building a better tomorrow".

The full name is often shortened to 투바투; Tubatu by Korean media and fans. International media and fans often shorten the group's name to TXT. In their first interview with MBC's Section TV, the band stated that they prefer to be called "Tomorrow X Together" over "TXT".

History

Pre-debut activities

Plans for a second boy group from Big Hit Entertainment were announced by founder Bang Si-hyuk as early as 2017, and a debut date for early 2019 was set in November 2018. Tomorrow X Together was officially revealed on January 10, 2019. Over the next ten days, videos depicting each member, dubbed "introduction films," were released on YouTube.

2019: Debut and The Dream Chapter: Magic

In 2019, Big Hit Entertainment announced their new boy group, Tomorrow X Together. The band's debut broadcast aired on Big Hit's YouTube page, announced alongside their debut extended play (EP), The Dream Chapter: Star, which was released on March 4, 2019. Their debut showcase was held at the Yes24 Live Hall on March 5. Following the release of the EP, the music video of the album's lead single, "Crown" garnered 14.5 million views on YouTube, breaking the record for the most viewed K-pop debut music video within 24 hours for a boy group and the most liked K-pop debut music video, with 2.3 million likes in 24 hours. The album debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart and Billboard World Albums Chart, while "Crown" debuted at number one on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart. The band debuted at number one on the Billboard Emerging Artists and at number 140 on the Billboard 200 chart, making them the fastest to appear in these charts (they were the second fastest K-pop group to appear in the Billboard Emerging Artists) and highest-charting debut album by any male K-pop group. The album also ranked at number three on Oricon's Weekly Album Chart. Additionally, it went on to top the Gaon Monthly Album Chart for the month of March. Tomorrow X Together's first music show performance aired on March 7, 2019, on Mnet's M Countdown. They earned their first music show win on SBS MTV's The Show with "Crown", just after one week after their debut, followed by wins on M Countdown and Show Champion. "Crown" featured on GQ's Decade-end list of "game-changers from a decade of K-pop" for the year 2019, with GQ writing, "The bright, effervescent pop of TXT who are in their own element as they playfully explore teenage growing pains."

On April 9, Tomorrow X Together announced their first overseas tour, a six-show debut showcase in six American cities—New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, Orlando, and Atlanta—over the course of two weeks, from May 9 to 24. Tickets to all shows sold out in less than 24 hours. Following their showcase in May, the band performed at the 2019 iHeartRadio Wango Tango music concert at Dignity Health Sports Park in Los Angeles on June 1.

On June 11, it was announced that Tomorrow X Together would be the first artist to join the new platform Weverse. On June 20, the band announced that they would be performing in two of Japan's largest fashion festivals, Kansai Collection's Autumn/Winter 2019 runway show on August 27, followed by the Tokyo Girls Collection's Autumn/Winter 2019 show on September 7, making them the first Korean artist to perform at both shows in the same season. On July 6, the band performed at the KCON 2019 NY music festival at Madison Square Garden, New York, in front of 55,000 spectators. Later that month, TXT received their first MTV Video Music Award nomination in the category of "Best K-pop".

On August 8, Big Hit Entertainment announced that plans to release a new album in August would be postponed to September due to Soobin's infectious conjunctivitis diagnosis and Yeonjun's back pain. On August 20, Big Hit Entertainment revealed members Taehyun and HueningKai had also been diagnosed with conjunctivitis, thus pushing the release date for the new album back from September to October.

On October 21, 2019, Tomorrow X Together released their first studio album, The Dream Chapter: Magic, with "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)" as lead single. Musically, the album incorporated a variety of music genres, including R&B, tropical house, acoustic pop and hip hop. The album debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart, surpassing 124,000 sales in its first week. This marked the band's second chart-topping album following their debut EP. The album debuted at number three on Billboard's World Albums Chart and at number six on the Billboard Heatseekers Album chart. A total of four tracks from the album entered the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, with the lead single debuting at number two. Billboard and Dazed both later named "9 and Three Quarters (Run Away)" one of the best K-pop songs of the year.

Tomorrow X Together's commercial success in their early months earned them several rookie awards at major Korean year-end music award shows, including the Asia Artist Awards, Melon Music Awards, Mnet Asian Music Awards, Golden Disc Awards, Gaon Chart Music Awards and Seoul Music Awards.

2020: Japanese debut, The Dream Chapter: Eternity, and Minisode 1: Blue Hour

On January 15, 2020, Tomorrow X Together made their Japanese debut with the single "Magic Hour", which included the Japanese versions of their songs "Run Away", "Crown", and "Angel or Devil". The single album debuted at number one on the Oricon Daily Chart and at number two on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. On January 19, the band's Japanese television debut was announced with their first appearance on TV Asahi's Music Station. They performed the Japanese version of "Run Away" on January 24, the first Korean artist to perform on the show in 2020. "Magic Hour" was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for selling 100,000 units.

On April 28, Big Hit Entertainment set the release date of the band's second EP, The Dream Chapter: Eternity, for May 18, to be led by the single "Can't You See Me?". The EP sold over 181,000 units in its first week and entered the Gaon Album Chart at number two. It debuted at number one on the Oricon Albums Chart, becoming the band's first chart-topper in Japan. In July 2020, the EP received a platinum certification from the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA) for 250,000 album shipments, giving the Tomorrow X Together their first certification in the country since their debut. Two months later, The Dream Chapter: Star and The Dream Chapter: Magic were also certified platinum by the KMCA.

On July 20, 2020, it was announced that Soobin would be the new MC of KBS2's Music Bank for one year, along with Oh My Girl's Arin. His first broadcast as MC was on July 24, 2020, and his final on October 1, 2021. On August 19, 2020, Tomorrow X Together released their second Japanese single "Drama". The single album included Japanese versions of "Drama" and "Can't You See Me?", as well as their first original Japanese song, "Everlasting Shine". "Everlasting Shine" served as the twelfth opening theme of the anime Black Clover, which began airing on September 1. "Drama" debuted and peaked at number three on the Japanese Oricon Singles Chart and was certified gold by the RIAJ.