majority (20 in Korean age reckoning, 19 internationally) and continued as seven members, with Mark returning to the lineup. In September, NCT announced a reunion for a second group project, NCT 2020, in October 2020. The first part of their second album, NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1, was released on October 12. The record featured all four existing units and two new members, Shotaro and Sungchan, who are set to debut with a future NCT unit. NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 1 garnered more than 1.1 million stock pre-orders ahead of release, making it NCT's first million-selling album without repackaging. NCT released NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2 on November 23. On December 4, NCT released the single "Resonance" as the finale of their second group studio album. The single combines the tracks "Make a Wish (Birthday Song)", "90's Love", "Work It", and "Raise the Roof" from their second studio album and features all 23 members. They held their first concert as a full group, titled NCT: Resonance "Global Wave", on December 27 through Beyond Live, which attracted more than 200,000 viewers. 2021–present: Universe, debut of NCT Tokyo, and end of global expansion On November 13, NCT announced their third group project, NCT 2021, with their third studio album Universe set for release on December 14. The 13-track album included the lead singles "Universe (Let's Play Ball)", which was released on December 10, and "Beautiful". Universe surpassed more than 1.7 million pre-orders on the day of release, breaking their previous record of 1.1 million pre-orders for NCT 2020 Resonance. On February 3, 2023, SM Entertainment announced their producing strategy for 2023, where it was revealed that the group's next unit, NCT Tokyo, will be debuting in the third quarter of 2023. On February 24, SM revealed their plans for the first half of 2023, where they announced that following NCT Tokyo's debut, the group's concept of international expansion would come to an end, permanently fixing the group at 5 subunits. Cancelled projects In 2019, SM Entertainment's A&R producer, Chris Lee, announced that NCT would continue to debut international units, including European, Japanese, and Hollywood-based units, that would be managed by different labels such as Capitol Records, Avex Trax and SM USA. In 2020, Lee Soo-man, CEO of SM Entertainment, mentioned plans to expand NCT in Southeast Asia, in Japan, and the United States, as well as several other regions. In 2021, SM