K-Pop Blog > Artists > ZB1

ZEROBASEONE had to live up to high expectations right from the start, after all, the members fought for their debut in the survival show Boys Planet for weeks and have already gathered some fans behind them. The nine-member boy band broke records before their debut and continued their streak of success even after the release of their first album.

If you want to know more about the boy band, 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 to be relatively short, after all, the boy band only debuted in July 2023. But like most other K-pop idols, preparations for this day began years ago. The castings for Boys Planet took place at the end of 2021 and the members had already been training for a few years at that point!

We give you an overview of the nine members and guide you through the rather short but exciting history of ZEROBASEONE:

• Boys Planet
• The members
• Pre-Debut
• debut

Boys Planet

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

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

In survival shows, individual participants or groups compete against each other and are eliminated piece by piece. In Boys Planet and most other shows, the winners debut together in a group; Most of the time there are around nine or even more winners. Many popular K-pop bands were founded in a survival show: These include Monsta X, Twice or Stray Kids!

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 issues.

The 98 trainees were divided into two groups: K-Group (talents from South Korea) and G-Group (global talents). This is how Boys Planet differed 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 convince the audience of their talent. They 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 participants remained 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 Boys Planet's big favorite, voted #1 by viewers throughout the show. Only in the final did he fall to second place. Zhang Hao steadily worked his way up and finally even reached the top!

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

The members

Three of the members of ZB1 had appeared on television before participating in Boys Planet:

Kim Taerae took part in the reality survival show “Top 10 Student” in 2020 and Park Gunwook fought for a place in the TAN project group in the survival show Wild Idol in 2021. He made it to the finals, but was eliminated there.

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

He made his debut in August 2016 in the five-member boy band INX, which broke up after just one year. And that wasn't all: Jiwoong made his debut for the second time in August 2018; this time as a member of ATEEN. But this group also went their separate ways the following year. In fact, 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 in ATEEN before, including Jiwoong. Unfortunately, it never made its debut; the group deleted its 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 but also the oldest member of ZEROBASEONE.

Jiwoong was born in December 1998 and maknae Han Yujin in March 2007. There are more than eight years between the two! The others were born between 2000 and 2005.

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

Pre-Debut

After the finale of Boys Planet on April 20th, everything happened very quickly!

01. May

The boy band named their fandom ZEROSE on May 1st. 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.

13. May

Although the boy band has not debuted at the time, they performed at KCON JAPAN 2023 on May 13th. KCON took place over three consecutive days, from May 12th to 14th.

14. May

A concept film for the debut album YOUTH in the SHADE was uploaded to 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.

The boys also modeled for 1st Look magazine. Quite a few fans have certainly started their ZB1 collection with the magazine!

26. May

WakeOne, the label that manages ZEROBASEONE, confirmed that the boy band will make their debut in July.

07. June

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

21 - 26 June: RECORDS

Since June 21st, fans have finally been able to pre-order the album. And that's what they did: within five days they secured a total of more than 780,000 copies and 1.08 million copies in 13 days! The boy band made K-pop history even before their debut:

YOUTH in the SHADE 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 that ZEROBASEONE celebrated before their debut: The boy band had previously collected 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 were the fans able to get to know the members a little better, but also the members got to know each other. They went on vacation to a rural area and had to face crazy challenges.

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

ZB1 continued the series of successes after the debut: on the first day after release, the boy band 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.

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

The previous record was set by the boy band X1 in 2019. Their debut album “Emergency: Quantum Leap” sold approximately 524 thousand copies in its first week, just half as many as YOUTH in the Shade sold on its first day.

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

We're excited to see what milestones the young boy band will achieve 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