Super Junior

Super Junior (슈퍼주니어; often stylized SUPERJUNIOR), sometimes referred to as SJ or SuJu (슈주), is a thirteen-member boy band from Seoul, South Korea. They are managed by producer Lee Soo Man and is currently the largest group under SM Entertainment. The members are Leeteuk (the leader), Heechul, Han Geng, Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, Donghae, Siwon, Ryeowook, Kibum, and Kyuhyun. The Chinese member, Han Geng, was chosen among the 3,000 applicants through auditions held in China by SM Entertainment in 2001.[1] The group initially debuted with twelve members on November 6, 2005, but since May 23, 2006, they have become a thirteen-member group.
Super Junior has released two studio albums and one CD single since 2005. Their most successful album, Don't Don, was the second best-selling album of 2007, according to the Music Industry Association of Korea.[3] In addition, the group has earned four music awards from the M.NET/KM Music Festival (Korean equivalent of the Grammy Awards) and is the second group to win Favorite Artist Korea at the MTV Asia Awards after JTL.

Pre-debut
Since 2000, Korean talent agency and record label SM Entertainment has been holding annual auditions to scout new talents that complemented the success of boy band H.O.T and girl group S.E.S, both of which were created by SM founder and producer Lee Soo Man in the late 1990s. In 2001, the company held their first oversea casting auditions in Beijing, where they discovered Han Geng, who was chosen among 3,000 applicants.[1] Leeteuk, Heechul, Yesung, Eunhyuk, Siwon, and Kibum were discovered under the company's annual auditions that were held in Seoul while Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, Donghae, and Ryeowook were discovered through SM-sponsored contests and singing competitions.[5]
Not long after boy band TVXQ's successful debut in 2003, news about Lee's unprecedented plans of forming another boy band quickly spread over the Internet. In early 2005, SM Entertainment confirmed the news and announced that a twelve-member all-male singing group would debut near the end of the year, promoting the project group to be "The Gateway to Stardom of Asia."[6] For a while the group was known to be called O.V.E.R, the acronym for "Obey the Voice for Each Rhythm."[7][a] Before the group settled with their current name, the company labled them as simply Junior, a representation of the members' young ages when they first joined SM Entertainment.[7] However, after the members' showcased their different talents to the company during an SM-sponsored picnic, their company finalized their name to Super Junior. Soon the group became officially Super Junior 05, the first generation of Super Junior.[5] Super Junior had been known for their infamous line-up, a concept being very similar to Japan's girl group, Morning Musume. Intended to be a rotational group, there was to be new members replacing some of the old members each year, forming a new Super Junior generation every time. However, this concept was abandoned when a new member was added in May 2006.[2]
Most members of Super Junior 05 have been actors, MCs, models, or DJs prior debut. Heechul and Kibum made their debuts in dramas and films;[8][9] Leeteuk, Yesung, Kang-in, Shindong, Sungmin, Eunhyuk, and Siwon made cameo television appearances; Han Geng made his first media appearance as a model, and Heechul was also already an established DJ before debut.[10]
They made their pre-debut appearance on the Korean channel, M.NET on September 11, 2005.[b] At the showcase, Super Junior 05 performed various styles of hip hop dancing. The group danced to B2K's "Take It To The Floor." Han Geng, Eunhyuk, and Donghae also performed a separate dance away from the group, dancing to Usher's "Caught Up." However, the performance did not air on television until May 16, 2006 as a segment in the Super Junior Show, the group's first television documentary.

2005–2006: The Super Junior project

Super Junior 05 made their debut television appearance on SBS's Popular Songs on November 6, 2005, performing their first single, "TWINS (Knock Out)." A digital single with "TWINS (Knock Out)", "You are the one", and three additional tracks were released online on November 8, 2005. A CD single was scheduled to be released in November but a more complete album, SuperJunior05 (TWINS), was released on December 5, 2005 instead. Their debut album sold 28,536 copies in the first month of release and debuted at #3 in the monthly chart of December 2005.[11][c] In that same month, their collaborated single with TVXQ, "Show Me Your Love," was released. "Show Me Your Love" became the best-selling record of December 2005, selling almost 50,000 copies.[11]
After "Show Me Your Love" promotions were completed, Super Junior 05 promoted their second single from their debut album, "Miracle," in February 2006. "Miracle" was the group's first single to peak at #1 on different music charts of South Korea as well as international charts from overseas countries, such as Thailand.[12] It was their last single to be promoted from SuperJunior05 (TWINS).
As promotions for "Miracle" slowly came to an end, SM Entertainment decided to begin Super Junior's line-up project by replacing some of the original members with new ones. After Super Junior 05, Super Junior 06, the second generation, would debut, and the label had begun to take actions to announce the new members. However, after the addition of a thirteenth member, the company abandoned the line-up project and the group became known as just Super Junior, without the suffix "05".