With a chilldhood that included time living in Korea, China and the U.S., the Hawaii-born Huening Kai was the first foreigner to debut under BIGHIT MUSIC as well as the first TOMORROW X TOGETHER member to earn a songwriting credit when he co-wrote the track “Roller Coaster” off the band’s sophomore EP, The Dream Chapter: Magic.

With TXT’s sound ranging from synth-pop to punk rock, Taehyun can captivate listeners with his diverse palette of vocal colors to effortlessly blend various musical styles and resonate with fans globally, undoubtedly helping the group score its first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 in 2023 with The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION.

A proud member of the BTS ARMY, the singer-dancer followed in the footsteps of his idols when TOMORROW X TOGETHER debuted as the second-ever boy group under their BIGHIT MUSIC label. Even with his arresting visuals, Beomgyu has even admitted his heart beats fast when he runs into the BTS members at his company, despite establishing himself as an international sensation all his own and with TXT, playing a crucial role as a songwriter and composer for some of the group’s most well-known B-sides like “No Rules,” “What If I had Been That Puma” and “Happy Fools,” the important unit track “Thursday’s Child Has Far to Go” featuring him, Soobin and Taehyun, and even plays the backing guitar on their fan-dedicated song “Blue Spring.”

With his natural leadership skills, striking visuals and innately comfortable hosting abilities, Soobin has earned various nicknames from the Korean media like “prince,” “sunshine” and “flower boy,” speaking to a shining personality inside and out and ability to craft songs that can reach a range of audiences including TXT’s Korean material (including fan-favorite tracks like “Maze in the Mirror,” “Ghosting” and “Blue Spring”), Japanese tracks (like the Japanese version of “MOA Diary”) and tracks helping the group crossing over to new audiences (like their Coi Leray collab “Happy Fools”).

As the first member revealed in TOMORROW X TOGETHER’S highly anticipated debut, Yeonjun greeted the world through his “Introduction Video” that earned more than one million views in under 24 hours, leading his name to trend on social media in minutes. The rapper-dancer-singer has more than lived up to the hype as a celebrated “It Boy” in the K-pop scene and on-air television host.

As NewJeans made history as the quickest K-pop girl group to top the Billboard 200 when their Get Up EP debuted at No. 1 in August, youngest member Hyein is also making quick firsts for the quintet as the first NWJNS member to feature on another artist’s album (on “Shh..” off IU’s The Winning EP from February 2024) and landing a brand ambassadorship for Louis Vuitton at age 14.

The Pyeongchon-born star has bad a lifelong love of listening and discovering new music, and showed off her songwriting chops by co-writing the group’s anthemic introduction “New Jeans” off their Billboard 200 No. 1 album, Get Up.

Born to an Australian father and a South Korean mother, Danielle and her family lived in both countries before the future star returned to South Korea to join HYBE. Beyond singing and dancing, Danielle’s songwriting skills were on display from NewJeans’ very beginning as a co-writer on their surprise debut single “Attention.” Danielle has continued co-writing several more NewJeans tracks and, in 2023, voiced the Korean dub for The Little Mermaid live-action remake and released her take on “Part of Your World” for its accompanying soundtrack.

The Vietnamese-Australian star infused her life with music from a young age, learning to play the ukulele and performing in Melbourne as a part of K-pop cover dance crew. Somewhat appropriately, Hanni first entered K-pop fans’ radars for her cameo in BTS’ “Permission to Dance” music video with future bandmate Minji ahead of NewJeans’ debut a year later. Speaking Korean, Vietnamese and English, Hanni helps NewJeans reach many fans worldwide and has co-written some of their signature singles like “Hype Boy” and “OMG.”

While NewJeans does not have designated positions in their group, Minji’s striking rap style, commanding deep voice, and eldest age makes her the presumptive leader in NewJeans’ rapid international takeover — which included the 2023 Billboard Music Award win for Top Global K-Pop Artist. With time spent in Canada to perfect her English during childhood, the Korean starlet first caught fans’ eyes with a cameo in BTS’ “Permission to Dance” music video in 2021 with future bandmate Hanni and has since gone on to snag co-writing credits for NewJeans’ Hot 100 hit “Ditto.”

In one of 2023’s most pleasantly unexpected viral hits, FIFTY FIFTY broke out among the slew of new K-pop acts with their sophomore single “Cupid,” which peaked at No. 17 on the Hot 100 and spent 25 total weeks on the chart. Initially released in both Korean and English versions for maximum reach to K-pop’s international audience, the song was also bolstered by sped-up and slowed-down versions, as well as a remix featuring Sabrina Carpenter.

While FIFTY FIFTY earned their chart points with the music they recorded as a quartet, today, Keena is the group’s only member.

With a fondness for singers like Charlie Puth and his role model Bruno Mars, Stray Kids’ youngest member—who is known as the maknae, which means youngest of a group in Korean— has shown his dedication to the group by consistently stepping up as a lead vocalist, making his solo track “Maknae on Top” all the more perfect of a name.

With dreams of being a baseball player as a kid, an injury forced Seungmin to rethink his life path and realize his love of music. While perhaps an unexpected change up to a young Seungmin, he now easily takes on the role of Stray Kids’ main vocalist and has recorded several impressive tracks on his own for Korean-drama soundtracks.

Felix’s low-timbre voice is a hallmark in any Stray Kids song across their four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 to date, and the Australian star also helps the group’s name grow with his ability to easily reach fans overseas. He’s also made an impact in the fashion world with Louis Vuitton’s artistic director of women’s collections Nicolas Ghesquière telling WWD, “I discovered Felix when I presented my pre-fall collection in Seoul. It instantly clicked between us. He is really talented. I love his energy, his unique personality and his audacious sense of style” before he was named a house ambassador for the luxury brand.

Perhaps one of K-pop’s best examples of an “all-rounder,” Han may be best known for his rap skills, but he’s equally impressive with his vocal ability, songwriting, and production skills. In 2023, he was reported as the youngest K-pop idol honored with a full membership to the Korea Music Copyright Association, which requires a certain amount of time in the industry, profit generated from music, and approval from a board of directors.

With passions across multiple disciplines like dance, art and photography, Hyunjin’s multifaceted appeal in Stray Kids landed him on the remix of Troye Sivan’s Hot 100 hit “Rush” and saw Donatella Versace deem him “one of the new voices defining culture around the world” after he was named a global brand ambassador for Versace.

After discovering the undeniable allure of rapping and dancing for an audience during school festivals, Changbin has gone on to be a core rapper, songwriter, and producer for Stray Kids, as well as one of the fastest rappers in the K-pop industry.

With his career starting in dance crews, befriending choreographers, and even time as a backup dancer for K-pop icons BTS, Lee Know caught the eye of JYP Entertainment scouts and was accepted into training years after his initial audition. Despite a shorter training period than his future band mates, Lee Know secured himself a spot in the group during the Stray Kids reality program, where all the band’s future members competed to prove they could debut as part of a future K-pop team.

Born in South Korea but raised in Sydney from a young age, there would be no Stray Kids if there was no Bang Chan — the group’s leader personally picked the members who would eventually be a part of Stray Kids. Beyond conceptualizing the team, he’s also one of its most heavily involved songwriters and producers playing a crucial role in landing the group four No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 to date, including two chart-toppers in 2023 with 5-STAR and ROCK-STAR, as well as co-producing and writing SKZ’s first-ever Hot 100 entry “LALALALA” last year.

In 2023, Jung Kook truly embraced his nickname as BTS’ “golden” star.

His official debut solo single “Seven” featuring Latto not only debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, but spent seven weeks atop the Billboard Global 200, was the No. 1 Global Song of the Summer, and won Top Global K-Pop Song at the Billboard Music Awards. Jung Kook continued his dominance with a range of hit Hot 100 collaborations including the top five smash “3D” featuring Jack Harlow—that eventually got remixed by Justin Timberlake—and “Too Much” with The Kid LAROI and Central Cee.

But Jung Kook proved he truly arrived when his December solo album, appropriately titled Golden, launched at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with the largest sales week ever for a K-pop solo act (210,200 equivalent-unit albums for the chart week dated Nov. 18, 2023) while his solo track “Standing Next to You” looks like it could mark his longest-running Hot 100 hit yet with 16 consecutive weeks running on the tally — so far — landing him No. 1 across this list that considers activity on the Billboard 200, Hot 100 and Billboard Boxscore touring data for this past year.

Check out all the 100 on Billboard’s Official Website