K-Pop Blog > Artists> ZB1

ZEROBASEONE had to live up to high expectations from the very beginning. After all, the members fought for weeks to make their debut on the survival show Boys Planet, where they already gathered some fans behind them. The nine-member boy group broke records even before their debut and continued their winning streak after the release of their first album.

If you want to learn more about the boygroup, you've come to the right place!

The name ZEROBASEONE (ZB1 for short) means that the members start from zero and become one on their journey.

At first glance, ZB1's journey seems relatively short, after all, the boy group only debuted in July 2023. But like most other K-pop idols, preparations for that day began years ago. Auditions for Boys Planet took place in late 2021, and the members had already been training for a few years by then!

We'll give you an overview of the nine members and take you through ZEROBASEONE's rather short but exciting history:

• Boys Planet
• The Members
• Pre-Debut
• Debut

Boys Planet

The survival show Boys Planet aired in 2023, two years after its predecessor Girls Planet 999. In Girls Planet 999, the nine-member girl group Kep1er was created.

Girls Planet and Boys Planet were produced by Mnet, the same network responsible for the very popular Produce series: Produce 101, Produce 101 Season 2, Produce 48 & Produce X 101. These seasons produced very successful groups like Wanna One and IZ*ONE, so fans had high expectations for Girls Planet 999 and Boys Planet from the beginning.

In survival shows, individual contestants or groups compete against each other and are eliminated one by one. In Boys Planet and most other shows, the winners debut together in a group; usually there are about nine or even more winners. Many popular K-pop bands were formed in a survival shows: These include Monsta X, Twice, or Stray Kids, among others!

From December 2021 to August 2022, 98 trainees were selected in several castings to compete in Boys Planet:

The first episode aired on February 2, 2023. The show was originally scheduled to begin in 2022, but had to be postponed due to production problems.

The 98 trainees were divided into two groups: K-Group (talents from South Korea) and G-Group (global talents). This made Boys Planet different from its predecessor, because in Girls Planet there were three groups: K (South Korea), J (Japan) and C (China)

In several rounds, the participants performed well-known K-pop songs and tried to impress the audience with their talent. The viewers regularly voted for their favorites in an app. Those with the fewest votes were eliminated and had to leave the show. After three eliminations, only 18 contestants were left in the final.

9,398,916 votes from 184 different countries determined the nine winners: Zhang Hao, Sung Hanbin, Seok Matthew, Ricky, Park Gunwook, Kim Taerae, Kim Gyuvin, Kim Jiwoong and Han Yujin.

Sung Hanbin was the big favorite of Boys Planet, voted #1 by viewers throughout the show. Only in the finals did he fall to 2nd place. Zhang Hao steadily worked his way up and eventually even reached the top!

Like Kep1er, ZB1 is supposed to be active together for two years and six months.

The members

Three of the members of ZB1 have been on television before participating in Boys Planet:

Namely, Kim Taerae participated in the reality survival show "Top 10 Student" in 2020 and Park Gunwook competed in the survival show "Wild Idol" in 2021 for a spot in the project group TAN. He made it to the finals, but was eliminated there.

But Kim Jiwoong has by far the longest journey behind him:

He debuted back in August 2016 in the five-member boy group INX, which disbanded after just one year. And that wasn't all: in August 2018, Jiwoong debuted for the second time; this time as a member of ATEEN. But this group also went their separate ways the very next year. Namely, 6 out of 10 members had sued their female CEO for sexual harassment.

Give up? That was out of the question for Jiwoong! In April 2019, the pre-debut group B.I.T introduced themselves. Four of them were previously in ATEEN, including Jiwoong. Unfortunately, the debut never happened; the group deleted their Instagram account in September 2019. Despite all the setbacks, Jiwoong continued to fight for his dream and finally got the attention he deserves in 2023. He is not only the most experienced member of ZEROBASEONE, but also the oldest.

The eldest Jiwoong was born in December 1998 and maknae Han Yujin in March 2007, with more than eight years between them! The others were born between 2000 and 2005.

Jiwoong has trained the most by far, followed by Kim Gyuvin with almost four years. Fan favorite Zhang Hao has only been a trainee for about a year and three months. The rest of the members have spent one and a half to two and a half years as trainees.

Pre-Debut

After the finale of Boys Planet on April 20, everything went really fast!

May 01

Already on May 1, the boy group named their fandom ZEROSE. The fandom name is a combination of "ZERO" and "ROSE". And when "ROSE" is combined with "ZB1", you get ZEROBASEONE. The name means that ZB1 and ROSE are one.

May 13

Although the boy group has not debuted at the time, it performed at KCON JAPAN 2023 on May 13. KCON was held for three consecutive days, from May 12 to 14.

May 14

A concept movie for the debut album YOUTH in the SHADE was uploaded on Youtube:

It was only the second video on ZEROBASEONE's Youtube channel. Previously, only a short logo video had been released, on the same day as the Boys Planet finale.

In addition, the boys had modeled for the 1st Look magazine. Surely quite a few fans started their ZB1 collection with this magazine!

May 26th

WakeOne, the label that manages ZEROBASEONE, confirmed that the boy group will debut in July.

June 7

On Twitter, ZEROBASEONE finally announced a firm date for the release of the debut mini album YOUTH in the SHADE: July 10.

June 21 - 26: RECORDS

Since June 21, fans could finally pre-order the album. And they did: Within five days, they secured a total of more than 780,000 copies and 1.08 million copies in 13 days! This means the boy group made K-pop history even before their debut:

YOUTH in the SHADE, in fact, is now considered the most pre-ordered K-pop debut album ever! (As of July 2023) It is also the first K-Pop debut album to sell more than 1 million copies.

And that wasn't the only record ZEROBASEONE celebrated before their debut: Previously, the boy group had amassed one million followers on Instagram in just six days, faster than any other K-Pop group before!

June 22

In a reality show called "Camp ZEROBASEONE", not only did fans get to know the members a little better, but the members also got to know each other. They went on vacation to a rural area and had to face crazy challenges.

On July 10, ZB1 finally debuted with YOUTH in the SHADE including the title song "In Bloom"!

ZB1 continued their winning streak after their debut: on the first day after release, the boy group had sold more than 1.24 million copies according to the Hanteo Chart. No K-pop group had ever achieved this with their debut album before.

Especially impressive: On this first day, ZB1 not only broke the sales record for the first day, but also directly for the first week!

The previous record had been set in 2019 by the boy band X1. Their debut album "Emergency: Quantum Leap" sold about 524 thousand copies in the first week, just half as many as YOUTH in the Shade on the first day.

So it was clear early on that ZB1 would also set the record for the best-selling K-pop debut album in its first week. On July 16, Hanteo Chart announced ZB1's first-week sales figures, and with it, the new record: 1,833,028 copies.

We are excited to see what other milestones the young boy group will reach in the next two and a half years. After this impressive start, we can certainly expect a lot more from the boys!

Sources: ZEROBASEONE social media channels, Boys Planet, Kpop Wiki, Hanteo Chart