South Korean boy band
Winner (; Korean: ; stylized in all caps) is a South Korean boy band consisting of four members: Kim Jin-woo, Lee Seung-hoon, Mino, and Kang Seung-yoon; originally a five-piece band, Nam Tae-hyun departed in November 2016 for reasons associated to his mental health. Their immediate success was cited as "unprecedented" for a newly debuted artist, thereby birthing the moniker "Monster Rookies" within the industry. The band's musical impact in their native country further trademarked the act as a "Trust and Listen" group and as the "Kings of Summer". 
Formed in 2013 by YG Entertainment and Mnet's "WIN: Who Is Next", the band debuted the next year with the studio album "2014 S/S". As of March 2019, Winner has been recorded as the fastest Korean act to top the "Billboard" World Album Chart with the oeuvre, and the Gaon Music Chart with their album and its titular single, "Empty". The band remains the fastest act to win on a televised music show, with a time of five days, and is the only artist to have all of their lead singles top the platform, Melon, for five consecutive years since their first work. Their success in Asia bestowed them with numerous accolades for music, fashion, and popularity, from award shows such as the Melon Music Awards, the Style Icon Awards, and the MTV Asia Music Gala. Following the band's reformation, their lead single, "Really Really" from their first single album "Fate Number For" (2017), sold over 2.5 million digital copies in their country and surpassed 100 million streams on the Gaon Music Chart; ensuing as the history's first K-pop male act to achieve the record without it departing from the chart.
Cited as a "self-producing" artist with all four members actively adopting roles from producing and choreographing to designing and marketing, their leader and youngest member, Kang Seung-yoon, is often portrayed as the act's main producer. They are also proclaimed as a "blue chip" due to their demand in the advertising industry, resulting in the endorsements with brands such as Adidas, Oreo, and Kiehl's. Furthermore, Winner actively participates in charitable activities and animal campaigns.
History.
2010–2013: Formation and pre-debut activities.
Following the successful launches of YG Entertainment's representative boy band Big Bang (2006) and girl group 2NE1 (2009), the label scouted talents through global and private auditions to nurture their next debuting act. Following two to three years of training, hints of its prospective line-up were revealed to the public including notable trainees such as Kang Seung-yoon and Lee Seung-hoon, who rose to domestic stardom through the audition shows "Superstar K2" (2010) and "K-pop Star" (2011–2012), respectively. Its prevailing members, Kim Jin-woo and Nam Tae-hyun, were recruited into the company's trainee system through an audition held in 2010 and 2011, respectively; Kim, the longest trained member of the five, was first discovered by Big Bang's Seungri at his academy, resulting in the opportunity to audition at the label. Song Min-ho debuted under Y2Y Contents Company as a member of BoM (2011), which disbanded one year and eight months later, and joined YG Entertainment in 2013, as the final addition to the ensemble.
Its debut process was chronicled in Mnet's "WIN: Who Is Next" (2013), a reality show documenting the five as members of "Team A". It further unveiled a second line-up of trainees under the name "Team B" (currently iKon), that the five had simultaneouly trained with, and were portrayed as their rivals while competing to debut as "Winner". In the span of 100 days, the show consisted of three rounds of performances and public voting. Furthermore, artists of "YG Family" (i.e. Big Bang, 2NE1, Epik High), namely Taeyang and G-Dragon, evaluated and mentored the trainees. For its finale, a live broadcast was hosted by Daesung and Yoo In-na in front of an audience of over 3,000 people at the SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium. It showcased the two team's self-composed works, "Go Up" and "Climax", which became their first entries on the Gaon Digital Chart at number eight and twelve, respectively, following its official release. On October 25, Team A were announced as the winners and commenced with preparations for their debut.
In September 2013, Team A and B received the chance to join G-Dragon's "Crooked" stage performance on "M Countdown" as his back up dancers. Two months later, the quintet served as the opening acts for Big Bang's Japan Dome Tour, an opportunity won as the winners of "WIN: Who is Next". In this time, the band's first official event entitled "Hello! Winner", created a buzz in the country, where they greeted 300 fans amidst a crowd of 8,000 people in Osaka. Furthermore, through the recording of their reality program "Winner TV" (2013–2014), a predecessor of "2NE1 TV" (2009–2011) and "Big Bang TV" (2011), which documented their debut preparation and lifestyle, the band secured the chance to perform as guests for 2NE1's All or Nothing World Tour in Seoul on March 1–2, 2014, alongside additional stops in Asia following an invitation by the quartet. Winner joined the YG Family Power World Tour in Osaka on April 12, which later expanded as an action to introduce their newest artist to fans located in Southeast Asia.
2014–2016: Immediate success with "2014 S/S", international recognition, and Nam's departure.
Between June and August 2014, the quintet were re-introduced to the public eight months following the conclusion of "WIN: Who is Next". Following a series of teasers and pictorials heralding their debut, the band held a launch party-esque showcase with an audience of 400 attendees at the Conrad Seoul Hotel on August 6, to introduce the band's music and look. It depicted a fashion show with models from YG KPlus and the members walking down a catwalk. The showcase and its concept was cited to be unique from existing male idols and "fresh" by media outlets, alluding to the quintet's "classy" image ahead of the release of their first studio album, "2014 S/S". It was also recognized by the Red Dot Design Awards, one of the three biggest design awards in the world, for being the first-ever project to apply a fashion brand’s launching concept to an artist's debut, becoming the winner of the artist's debut branding category. In result, the term "model-dols", a portmanteau of "model" and "idol", was created within the industry.
Winner officially debuted with the titular singles "Empty" and "Color Ring" on August 17, the day of their first performance on television. They became the fastest act to win on a music show after five days of their debut, a record that was cited to be unusual for a rookie. "2014 S/S" debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart and a number of international music charts, including the "Billboard" World Albums Chart. Furthermore, they debuted at number six on its Heatseekers Chart, indicating a near Billboard 200 entry, rare for a Korean act at the time. On the Gaon Digital Chart, both singles charted at first and third place, respectively, while the former remained at number one for two consecutive weeks. "Don't Flirt", became the most downloaded b-side on the platform, until its record was broken by Blackpink's "Forever Young" (2018) after four years. On September 10, the band released their album's Japanese equivalent of the same name, which peaked at number two on the Oricon Albums Chart. The following day, they embarked on their first Japan tour, which concluded in Tokyo on October 11 with a total of 50,000 attendees. Their commercial success had selected them as one of the ten best artists at the 2014 Melon Music Awards, followed by multiple Best New Artist awards presented by the 29th Golden Disc Awards and 4th Gaon Chart Music Awards amidst others. Abroad, they were awarded the Best New Force Group at the QQ Music Awards and the Most Popular Korean Group at the Youku Tudou Young Choice 2014. The band was also listed as the only Korean act alongside the likes of Sam Smith and Meghan Trainor, amidst the thirteen top breakout artists by Fuse that year.
Beginning on January 10, 2015, the ensemble commenced on their first fan meeting tour, titled "WWIC" (Worldwide Innercircle Conference), in Beijing, where the act visited 4,000 fans, and 6,500 fans in Shanghai the following week. Its success resulted in a surge of the band's profile on Weibo, a leading social media service in China, ensuing the group to hold a stop in Shenzhen on January 24, due to popular demand. Lee Seung-hoon, who was absent in the aforementioned stops due to cited health reasons, was present in their Seoul fan meeting, which garnered 10,000 fans at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena on January 31. The event was further extended to regions including Osaka on February 20 and 21, and Tokyo the following day, resulting in an audience of 31,500 people across the three countries. "WWIC 2015" was later presented with a branding design prize from the iF Product Design Award 2016 in Germany, one of the world's three largest design awards events. In September, they embarked on their second Japan tour, where they greeted over 36,000 attendees across ten cities. 
The five-piece were scheduled to release five 'project releases' in 2016, where the first, a duet featuring Mino and Nam, titled "Pricked", was released on January 11. In the lead-up to the first installation of their project, entitled "Exit Movement", a number of musical covers of their lead singles, "Sentimental" and "Baby Baby", were released as promotional teasers by Dean, Zion.T, and G-Dragon, amidst others. Released on February 1, Winner's EP, "", debuted atop the Gaon Album Chart, and at number two on the "Billboard"'s World Albums Chart. Its lead singles topped all eight music streaming platforms in South Korea and achieved a real-time "all-kill". In China, "Baby Baby" became the most streamed song within the first half of the year among Korean releases on QQ Music, the country's largest music platform. Winner held their first-ever concert tour nationwide starting on March 12 and 13 at Olympic Gymnasiums Arena in Seoul. The group also held additional stops in Gwangju, Daegu, and Busan, in April. In June, the group brought their Exit Tour to Japan, drawing over 36,000 fans in Japan alone. 
Winner's variety show "Half-Moon Friends" (2016), which aired on JTBC, gained popularity both in Korea and abroad, garnering over 75 million views via Miaopai and surpassing 100 million views through other platforms in China alone. Their success in the country won them the Overseas Popularity Award at the MTV Asia Music Gala. Due to Nam taking a break for reasons relating to his mental health in October, the rest of the "Exit Movement" series was delayed indefinitely, until his eventual departure from the band on November 25, resulting in the project's cancellation.
2017–2019: Reformation, continued success, and first world tour.
Following the band's reformation, after 14 months of hiatus, Winner returned to the industry as four on April 4, 2017, with the single album "Fate Number For". Notably, the music video for its titular single, "Really Really", was filmed by director Dave Meyers. It peaked atop the Gaon Digital Chart, and debuted at number three on the "Billboard" World Digital Song Sales, marking the group's best position to date. Furthermore, it went on to creating the record of surpassing 100 million streams, making Winner the first ever male idol group in history to achieve this while keeping their "Chart-In" status, and was chosen to be on the Apple Music's "Best of the Week" list. In commemoration of their release, Winner held a three-day "concept showroom" showcase, from April 2 to 4, located at Club NB in Seoul. On May 31, they released their debut Japanese single, containing Japanese renditions of "Really Really" and "Fool". On August 4, Winner released their second single album, "Our Twenty For", which included the lead singles, "Love Me Love Me" and "Island". The former was chosen by "Dazed Digital" as one of the 20 best K-Pop songs of 2017. 
Through tvN's New Journey to the West 4, Mino's wish to appear on "Youth Over Flowers" with his fellow Winner members was granted as a special supplementary show. Filming for Winner's "Youth Over Flowers" took place in West Australia while airing began on November 7. 
On February 7, 2018, Winner released their first Japanese studio album, "Our Twenty For", consisting new Japanese songs, "Raining" and "Have a Good Day",