Winner (Korean: 위너), stylized as WINNER, is a South Korean Boyband under YG Entertainment. They were formed in 2013 through a survival show created by YG called "WIN: Who is Next" as Team A. They competed against Team B (currently known as iKON) at a chance to debut. They ultimately won the show after three rounds of competition and voting.
They debuted on August 17, 2014, with the song "Empty". With said song, they become the fastest group to win a music show when they won in Mnet's M!Countdown on August 21, 2014, doing so after four days of debut. This record still stands today.
Winner originally have five members: Kim Jin-woo, Lee Seung-hoon, Song Min-ho, Kang Seung-yoon, and Nam Tae-hyun. However, in November 2016, Taehyun left the group due to mental health issues.
Current Members:
- Yoon (Kang Seung-yoon, born January 21, 1994) - Leader, Main Vocalist, Maknae
- Jinu (Kim Jin-woo, born September 26, 1991) - Lead Vocalist, Visual
- Hoony (Lee Seung-hoon, born January 11, 1992) - Main Dancer, Lead Rapper, Vocalist
- Mino (Song Min-ho, born March 30, 1993) - Main Rapper, Vocalist, Face of the Group
Former Members:
- Taehyun (Nam Tae-hyun, born May 10, 1994) - Main Vocalist, Maknae
Studio Albums
- 2014 - 2014 S/S
- 2018 - Everyday
- 2020 - Remember
- 2016 - Exit: E
- 2019 - We
- 2019 - Cross
- 2017 - Fate Number For
- 2017 - Our Twenty For
- 2018 - Millions
Japanese Discography
Studio Albums
- 2018 - Our Twenty For
- 2020 - Winner The Best Song 4 U
Winner provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ascended Extra: As Team A, they appeared in Taeyang's Ringa Linga MV.
- Jinu & Taehyun were backup dancers in the 2011 YG Family Concert.
- The Baby of the Bunch: After Taehyun left, Yoon is this who doubles as The Leader.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Yoon. Who has won 'King of Masked Singer' as its youngest winner, TWICE.
- Big Little Brother: All of the other members are taller than Jinu, the oldest member.
- Gratuitous English: Played for Laughs, especially when they went to Australia.
- They accidentally ordered five burgers instead of four.
- Jinu almost wrote 15 kmnote as his height in his skydiving form, since he thought 'height' on the form meant the height they were going to skydive from.
- No one can forget when Mino acted as a Korean-American in K-Pop Extreme Survival.
Mino: "Not again, homie. Desperate to die or something?" - Singer-Songwriter: Yoon, Mino, Hoony, and Taehyun usually participated in producing their own songs, either in writing or composing.
- Solo Side Project: Mino is the first to get his solo debut in 2018. Jinu and Yoon later followed in 2019 & 2021 respectively.
- Title Track:
- "Empty" for 2014 S/S
- "Baby Baby" and "Sentimental" for Exit: E
- "Really Really" and "Fool" for Fate Number For
- "Love Me Love Me" and "Island" for Our Twenty For
- "Everyday" for Everyday
- "Ah Yeah" for We
- "Soso" for Cross
- "Hold" and "Remember" from Remember
