Infinite

Emerging onto the scene in 2010, Infinite is a South Korean boy band whose energetic K-pop draws influences from R&B, electronic music, and dance-pop. Woolim Entertainment assembled the act that year, presenting it in all caps as INFINITE and initially fielding seven members: leader Sunggyu (Kim Sung Gyu), Dongwoo (Jang Dong Woo), Woohyun (Nam Woo Hyun), Sungyeol (Lee Seong Yeol), L/Myungsoo (Kim Myung Soo), Sungjong (Lee Sung Jong), and Hoya (Lee Ho-Won), who parted ways in 2017. Their debut mini-album, First Invasion, surfaced the same year and contained the singles “Come Back Again” and “She’s Back,” climbing to number ten on the Gaon Album Chart.

The following year brought the second mini-album Evolution and the band’s first full-length project, Over the Top, while an unofficial Japanese bow arrived via the single “To-Ra-Wa”; a Japanese-language version of the Evolution track “BTD (Before the Dawn)” later reinforced their foothold in that market. February 2012 marked the group’s first concerts at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium and Tokyo’s International Forum, alongside the mini-album Infinitize and its hit single “The Chaser.” New Challenge appeared as a mini-LP in 2013, the same year the ensemble issued its debut Japanese full-length album, Koi ni Ochiru Toki, which reached number one on the Oricon Albums Charts.

Infinite scored its first Billboard entry in 2014 with “Last Romeo,” featured on the chart-topping sophomore album Season 2. The Reality EP and the second Japanese long-player For You both arrived in 2015, followed in 2016 by the sixth extended play, Infinite Only. The Japanese full-length Air surfaced the next year, coinciding with Hoya’s decision not to renew his Woolim contract. The remaining six members delivered their third album, Top Seed, in early 2018, shortly before Sunggyu announced a May hiatus for South Korean military service. The atmospheric single “Clock,” the first release as a quintet, followed in 2019.