NCT (; an acronym for Neo Culture Technology) is a South Korean boy band formed by SM Entertainment and introduced in January 2016. The group consists of 23 members and divided into four different sub-units: NCT U, NCT 127, NCT Dream, and WayV. In South Korean charts, NCT has recorded more than 24 million album sales across all sub-units, making them the best-selling act under SM Entertainment. The group debuted their first sub-unit, the rotational NCT U, on April 9, 2016, with the double digital single "The 7th Sense" and "Without You". It was followed by the Seoul-based sub-unit NCT 127 on July 7, 2016, with their eponymous extended play and the then-teenaged sub-unit NCT Dream on August 24, 2016, with the digital single "Chewing Gum". WayV, a seven-member sub-unit based in China and NCT's first overseas sub-unit, debuted on January 17, 2019, with the single album The Vision. NCT's next overseas unit, currently known as NCT Tokyo, is set to debut in the third quarter of 2023 as their final subunit. Although each sub-unit promotes separately, NCT has united three times as a group to record three full-length albums: Empathy (2018), Resonance (2020), and Universe (2021). Within two months of release, Resonance sold over 2.6 million copies across its two parts, becoming the highest-selling physical album released by an act from SM Entertainment at the time and earning the group their first Daesang (Grand Prize) Award at the 2020 Asia Artist Awards. Universe, which was released in December 2021, became their most pre-order album at 1.7 million copies, and later surpassed 1.8 million sales after its release. Background and name In January 2016, SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man delivered a presentation at the SM Coex Artium titled "SMTOWN: New Culture Technology 2016". The label planned to debut a new boy group that would "fall in line" with their culture contents strategy, one that would contain an "unlimited" number of members that would debut in separate sub-units within the group. Furthermore, the members would form "sub-unit teams" and have "collaborations" with each other. The name of the group was later revealed to be NCT, an acronym for the presentation title. NCT as a whole was SM Entertainment's first idol group to debut in nearly two years since Red Velvet in 2014 and SM Entertainment's first boy group to debut since Exo in 2012. History 2013–2016: Formation and pre-debut activities Prior