2PM

2PM is a South Korean boy group formed by JYP Entertainment that debuted on September 4, 2008. Born out of the eleven-member pre-debut project group One Day, 2PM was split off as the dance-focused half (its sister act, the ballad-oriented 2AM, was the other), with seven original members chosen for their athleticism and stage presence. From the beginning, 2PM stood apart from the “pretty boy” idols of their era by building an image around raw physicality, acrobatics, and masculine performance energy, a style Korean media dubbed jimseung-dol, or “beast idol.”

The group’s breakout came in 2009 with “Again & Again,” a dance-pop and R&B track that became their first number-one single and secured them the Artist of the Year Daesang at the 2009 Mnet Asian Music Awards. That same year, former leader Jaebeom departed following a social-media controversy, and 2PM regrouped as a six-member act: Jun. K, Nichkhun, Taecyeon, Wooyoung, Junho, and Chansung. The reshaped lineup doubled down with the zombie-themed “Heartbeat,” widely regarded as the group’s signature song and a fixture on best-of K-pop lists.

Through the early 2010s, 2PM expanded into Japan, where all five of their Japanese studio albums topped the Oricon Albums Chart and nine of their Japanese singles earned RIAJ Gold certification. Korean releases like Hands Up (2011), Grown (2013), Go Crazy! (2014), No.5 (2015), and Gentlemen’s Game (2016) each landed in the top three of the Gaon Album Chart, with the group increasingly writing and composing their own material – a rarity for idol acts of the period. From 2017 to 2021 the members completed mandatory military service, returning with the studio album Must and the Japanese EP With Me Again. In 2026, 2PM marked fifteen years since their Japan debut with sold-out concerts at the Tokyo Dome.

Beyond music, 2PM became one of Korea’s most in-demand advertising faces, fronting campaigns for Calvin Klein, Coca-Cola, and Lotte Duty Free, while individual members built parallel careers in acting, variety television, and solo music. Known collectively to their fandom, HOTTEST, as both “beast idols” and, later, gentlemen of K-pop, 2PM remains one of the defining second-generation boy groups of the Korean Wave.