Infinite (band)


Infinite is a South Korean boy band formed in 2010 by Woollim Entertainment. The group is composed of six members: Sungkyu, Dongwoo, Woohyun, Sungyeol, L, and Sungjong. Originally a seven-piece group, Hoya departed from the group in August of 2017. Infinite debuted in 2010 with their EP First Invasion. Their first full album, Over the Top, was released in July 2011. Their EP New Challenge, released in March 2013, sold over 160,000 copies in South Korea alone and was one of the best-selling albums of 2013. Their second full album, Season 2, was released in May 2014.

History

Pre-debut

Before their debut, Sung-kyu, Woo-hyun, Sung-yeol, L, and Sung-jong participated in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in the chorus of Epik High's supporting song.
L, Sung-kyu, Woo-hyun, and Sung-jong appeared in Epik High's music video "RUN" while Hoya and Dong-woo served as backup dancers during promotions on music shows. On April 12, Infinite first appeared in an Mnet pre-debut reality show "You Are My Oppa" along with Lovelyz's Ji-ae and Epik High.

2010: Debut

On June 9, they debuted with their first mini album First Invasion and the title track "Come Back Again". Infinite also promoted their song "She's Back" from the album.

2011: ''Over The Top'' and Japanese debut

The group's second mini album Evolution was released on January 7. The group promoted it with the lead single "Before the Dawn ". The group entered the Music Bank K-chart for the first time.
Infinite made their comeback with their first single album Inspirit. In the music charts, the group finally ran from the top 30 to the top 40, and also went up to the top 10 in the Music Bank K-chart.
Their first studio album Over The Top was released on July 21 along with the music video of their title track "Be Mine". They received their first music show first place award at M! Countdown on September 1 and received a "Double Crown" for winning two consecutive #1 places at M! Countdown. Following the success of Be Mine, Infinite re-released Over The Top as a repackaged album titled Paradise, along with its title track of the same name, on September 26. On October 9, Infinite came first on Inkigayo for Paradise. They then won their second trophy with Paradise on October 13 on M! Countdown.
Infinite unofficially debuted in Japan with their first Japanese single "To-Ra-Wa" on January 26, which was a Japanese version of their Korean debut song, "Come Back Again". Immediately after its release, their Evolution mini album hit #3 on real-time charts for sales in Korea. The song was the top downloaded ringtone on the daily charts of the K-Pop section of Japan’s top mobile website. Infinite released various rental singles including "She's Back", "BTD ", and "Nothing's Over" before they officially debuted in Japan.
Infinite made their official Japanese debut with the release of the Japanese version of "BTD" on November 19. The B-side for the single is "Can U Smile", a remake of a track from their 2nd mini album Evolution. It is the third track of their first single album Inspirit.
On December 5, they released their first Christmas song, "White Confession".

2012: First concert and ''Infinitize''

Infinite held their first concert 2012 Infinite Concert "Second Invasion" in Seoul's Olympic Stadium on February 11–12 and in Tokyo International Forum on February 25–26. The encore concert, 2012 Infinite Concert "Second Invasion Evolution" was held in Seoul's Olympic Stadium on April 1.
The group's second Japanese single was released on April 18. It included the Japanese version of their song "Be Mine" as its title track, as well as a Japanese version of "Julia". It peaked at #2 both in Oricon Daily and Weekly Charts. Total reported sales amounted to at least 54,218 copies.
The group's third mini album INFINITIZE on May 15. On June 14, Infinite took their first triple crown on M! Countdown with "The Chaser", which achieved the top spot on the charts for three consecutive weeks. At the end of the year, Billboard named "The Chaser" the number one KPOP song of the year.

2013–2014: ''New Challenge'', first world tour and ''Season 2''

On March 21, the group released their fourth mini album New Challenge. The lead single was titled "Man in Love", which took seven trophies on music shows during its promotion period.
The group released their first Japanese debut album, Koi ni Ochiru Toki, on June 6. It took the #1 place on the Oricon’s albums chart for the week of June 3 to 9 with 69,647 copies sold.
The group then released their second single, "Destiny", on July 16.The group first performed "Destiny" at the 2013 Mnet 20's Choice Awards on July 18 and began promotional performances on MBC's July 20 episode of Show! Music Core and various music programs.
Infinite began their first world tour named 2013 Infinite 1st World Tour "One Great Step" on August 9 in Seoul. The tour also included 22 shows in Asia, North America, Europe and Dubai.
On January 16, 2014 Mnet released a preview for the group's new reality show, This is INFINITE and will aired on February 6.
Their first world tour encore 2013 Infinite 1st World Tour "One Great Step Returns" was held in Seoul's Olympic Gymnastics Arena on February 28 and March 1.
On April 10, 2014 Infinite released their instrumental album The Origin. Prior to this release, Infinite released the instrumental music video for their song "BTD ", which featured never-before-seen footage from the original "BTD" music video.
On May 12, Woollim Entertainment confirmed in an interview with Newsen that Infinite's second studio album, Season 2, would be released on May 21. Prior to the release of the album, Infinite held a showcase in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, titled 1.2.3. The group held the first showcase in Japan on May 19 and Taiwan on May 20 before performing in South Korea on May 21. On May 21, their second studio album with title Last Romeo was released. Following the album release, Infinite held a showcase at the Jamsil Student Gymnasium in Seoul. A repackaged edition for Season 2 titled Be Back was released on July 22.
Infinite held their second summer concert "" in Seoul's Blue Square Samsung Card Hall with the expected total audience of 15.000 fans. It consisted of 7 shows starting from 7–10 August 2014 and 14–16 August 2014 respectively.
On September 11, the group had their first Billboard No. 1, with their single "Last Romeo" topping the Billboard Twitter Emerging Artists chart, becoming the first Korean act to do so, and also hitting No. 33 on Billboard Twitter Top Tracks.
On December 18, Infinite released the music video their new Japanese single, "Dilemma", composed by renowned Japanese musician and guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei.The single was subsequently released on December 24 and used as the centerpiece of their upcoming Dilemma Tour in Japan in early 2015.

2015: ''Reality''

Infinite embarked on their third Japan solo concert tour 2015 Japan Tour - Dilemma on February 1 in Fukuoka, following held in Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi. On April 29, they a revealed promotional video for 24 Hours. 24 Hours came in third on the Oricon Weekly Chart with 56,266 copies sold.
Infinite released Reality, their fifth extended play, on July 13, 2015. It contains seven tracks, with the lead single titled "Bad".
The group announced their second solo world tour 2015 Infinite 2nd World Tour "Infinite Effect" in July 2015. Two concerts were held in Seoul at the Olympic Stadium Arena on August 8 and 9.
Infinite's reality show Infinite Showtime at MBC Every1 started on December 10.
Infinite released their second Japanese album For You on December 16.

2016–2018: ''Infinite Only'', Hoya's departure, and ''Top Seed''

Infinite concluded the Infinite Effect tour with two concerts titled 2015 Infinite 2nd World Tour "Infinite Effect Advance" in Seoul's Olympic Park Gymnastics Stadium from February 20–21. Infinite held their summer concert 2016 Infinite Concert in Seoul Samsung Card Hall's Blue Square from August 3–8. Prior to the concert, they released the special digital single That Summer on July 8. Infinite released their first best Japanese album Best of Infinite on August 31, 2016. Their sixth extended play Infinite Only was released on September 19. It consists of seven tracks with the lead single "The Eye".
Infinite released their third Japanese album Air on May 24, 2017. On June 9, 2017 Woollim Entertainment announced that the members of Infinite were discussing renewing their contracts with the label. On June 28, Korean media reported that only 6 out of 7 members had renewed their contracts. On July 14, member L revealed in an interview that the members were still positively discussing the contract. On August 30, it was announced that Hoya had officially left the group after deciding to not renew his contract with Woollim Entertainment.
The remaining six members continued as a group, releasing their third studio album, Top Seed, in January 2018. The album consists of twelve tracks with the lead single "Tell Me". Sungkyu enlisted for his mandatory military service as an active duty soldier on May 14.

2019–present: Military service and L's departure from Woollim

Infinite remained as five member with release digital single "Clock" on February 13.
Sungyeol enlisted as an active duty soldier on March 26, 2019, while Dongwoo also enlisted as an active duty soldier on April 15. Sungjong and Woohyun enlisted as public service workers on July 22 and October 24, respectively.
L's exclusive contract with Woollim Entertainment expired on August 18, 2019. L uploaded a handwritten letter the following day onto his Instagram explaining his decision to leave the company "in order to take on new challenges", and that he will continue to be a part of Infinite.
Sungkyu completed his military service on January 8, 2020, and held a small fan meeting following his discharge.

Members

Korean albums

Headlining

;World tours
;Japan tours
;Concerts

Film

Citations