BTS’s Golden Maknae Jungkook

From his first audition to breaking world records.

BTS

Jungkook’s journey to stardom began in 2011 in Daegu at an audition for the third season of the South Korean talent show Superstar K. While he did not make it onto the show, he was scouted by seven different entertainment agencies. Among those was Big Hit Entertainment who had recently begun forming their new hip-hop idol group. A big catalyst in Jungkooks decision to choose Big Hit Entertainment was fellow BTS member RM. Upon seeing RM’s rapping skills, Jungkook was impressed and knew that RM was someone he wanted to train and work beside. Jungkook was the fifth member to join BTS and debuted with the group on June 13, 2013, at the age of 15.

Jungkook has participated in songwriting alongside the other members since 2013. He has also produced the BTS tracks “Love Is Not Over” and “Magic Shop,” as well as his solo projects “Still With You” and “My You.”

SOLO

Jungkook made his solo debut on July 14, 2023 with “Seven” featuring American rapper Latto. The track debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 and Global 200 with nearly 16 million streams on Spotify alone. “Seven” was nominated for awards internationally, winning titles such as “International Song of the Year” and accumulating a whopping 13 wins across South Korea’s major music programs.

Jungkook currently holds four Guinness World Records, three of which are for his work “Seven” including “Most streamed track on Spotify in one week (male)” and “Fastest time for a music track to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify (male).” Jungkook previously held the record for “Fastest solo K-pop artist to reach 1 billion streams on Spotify (male),” a title which now belongs to Jimin. 

Jungkook released his first studio album GOLDEN on November 3, 2023. The 11-track album consists of collaborations with western artists such as: Jack Harlow, Major Lazer, and DJ Snake. The album went double platinum in South Korea, Platinum in Japan, and Gold in Canada with over 2.7 million sales worldwide. The album charted at No.1 on eight weekly charts internationally and top 10 on over 25 charts in countries such as: Australia, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, and the United States.

Edited by Lacey Diluvio