50 Fun Facts About Super Junior

Super Junior's Heechul got lost, missed his 2002 SM audition slot, then passed by singing which piece?

The national anthem got Heechul through, even though he had missed the open call and was let in on the strength of his looks. Seeing Psy perform on television had sent him hunting for auditions.

Ryeowook and four Super Junior bandmates were among the first Korean artists pictured on which items in China?

Postage stamps issued in China featured the five singers. Ryeowook was the last trainee added before the 2005 debut, signed after impressing the judges at a youth singing festival.

The T in Super Junior-T, the 2007 sub-unit behind the hit Rokuko, stands for which music genre?

Trot is the oldest form of Korean pop music, and the unit was built to revive the fading style. Rokuko ended 2007 as South Korea's best-selling single.

The title of Super Junior's 2007 album Don't Don puns on the Korean word 'don', which means what?

Money is 'don' in Korean, while 'donda' means to go insane, and the title plays on both. The rock-edged record was the second best-selling album in South Korea that year.

Opposed to plans for extra members in 2008, what did Super Junior fans buy to earn a say?

SM Entertainment shares, 58,206 of them, gave the fans about 0.3% of the label's stock, so they could oppose a bigger lineup as stockholders. They pledged to use every chance to keep the group at thirteen.

Which Super Junior member, the oldest trainee in the original lineup, was made leader for the group's 2005 debut?

Leeteuk took a stage name meaning 'special', the word SM's chairman had used to describe him. Before the group formed he was briefly lined up for a five-member band called Smile.

Which vocalist joined Super Junior in 2006 as its thirteenth member, ending a plan to rotate the lineup yearly?

Kyuhyun earned his place after finishing third in a youth singing festival in 2005. A car crash in April 2007 left him the most seriously hurt of four members, and he spent months in hospital.

In July 2019 Super Junior became the first K-pop act to stage a solo concert in which country?

Saudi Arabia hosted the show at King Abdullah Sports City during the Jeddah Season festival. Two of the group's sub-units played the same festival the next day.

Four Super Junior members gave a 2013 lecture, 'The Last Man Standing', in which university's famous debating chamber?

Oxford hosted the talk at its Union, organised with the university's Korea Society and Asia-Pacific Society. The lecture's title was reused a decade later for a documentary about the group.

Super Junior's Siwon became a special representative in 2015 for the Korean arm of which United Nations agency?

UNICEF promoted him in November 2019 to ambassador for its whole East Asia and Pacific region, a wider role than the Korean post he had held for four years.

In 2015 Super Junior's Heechul joined the cast of which JTBC variety show set in a high school classroom?

Knowing Bros casts its hosts as same-aged students who quiz guests posing as transfer pupils. Bandmate Shindong, long a recurring guest, was later promoted to the regular cast.

Super Junior's Siwon appeared in the 2015 historical action film Dragon Blade alongside which Hong Kong star?

Jackie Chan also produced the film, which cast Siwon as Yin Po opposite Hollywood actors John Cusack and Adrien Brody.

Eunhyuk of Super Junior formed a childhood dance crew with Kim Junsu, who went on to debut in which group?

TVXQ claimed Junsu in 2003, breaking up a trainee R&B trio he shared with Eunhyuk and Sungmin. The two friends had first auditioned for SM together at 13.

Super Junior's original plan to replace some members every year was inspired by which Japanese girl group?

Morning Musume's revolving lineup was the model, and the label even drew up a list of members due to graduate before dropping the idea in 2006.

Which music executive formed Super Junior in 2005 as a twelve-piece group with a rotating lineup?

Lee Soo-man billed the act as a gateway to stardom for Asia, choosing trainees who already had experience as actors, MCs and models.

Fans who staged silent sit-ins outside SM's building in 2007 belong to which official Super Junior fan club?

E.L.F. members sat in silence to defend a thirteen-man lineup, then at a later protest sang the group's songs and chanted the number instead.

Super Junior performed in Jakarta in September 2018 at the closing ceremony of which multi-sport event?

Asian Games organisers saw the group take the stage with only seven members, as Heechul was absent with health problems.

The 2023 documentary Super Junior: The Last Man Standing, on the group's history, premiered on which streaming service?

Disney+ released the film in January 2023, with the members sharing their inner thoughts and emotions about the group's long run.

What did SM Entertainment set up for Super Junior on the group's tenth anniversary in November 2015?

Its own record label, named Label SJ, took sole charge of the group's albums and every unit and solo project while staying affiliated with SM.

Super Junior's 2006 single Miracle topped the charts in which country, earning the group its first overseas show?

Thailand invited the group to the Pattaya Music Festival in March 2006, its first gig abroad. Miracle was a light bubblegum pop love song, unlike the edgy debut single.

Which Super Junior member was picked from three thousand applicants at an SM audition held in Beijing?

Han Geng had studied dance in Beijing since the age of 12, and in 2008 he was named a torch bearer for the city's Olympics.

Which Super Junior member, discovered by a casting agent in Los Angeles, officially left the group in 2015?

Kibum had stepped back after the group's 2009 album to pursue acting, and he was the only member never placed in a sub-unit.

Which Super Junior-M member played the violin solo on the 2007 single Don't Don before officially debuting?

Henry won his place at an SM audition in Toronto by playing Vivaldi on the violin while popping to the fast passages. He was one of two recruits from three thousand hopefuls.

Which in-house SM songwriter wrote Super Junior's 2009 breakthrough hit Sorry, Sorry and its 2007 predecessor Don't Don?

Yoo Young-jin set out to make the 2009 hit both fun and easy to listen to, and its 'SJ Funky' style carried through two more of the group's title tracks.

Which 2014 Super Junior single has a comedic Wild West video casting the members as a sheriff, robber and gambler?

Mamacita is a new jack swing track co-composed by Teddy Riley, and it was recorded without Yesung, who was away on military service.

Which special album did Super Junior release in July 2015 to mark ten years since the group's debut?

Devil welcomed Yesung back from military service, and its funk rock title track was produced with the American team The Stereotypes.

Which lead single from Super Junior's 2017 album Play drew three million video views within 24 hours?

Black Suit beat Scene Stealer six votes to five in an anonymous ballot of the band and its producers to become the title track. Its tale of a heart thief was inspired by the character Lupin.

Which Dominican-American singer features on Lo Siento, the 2018 single that took Super Junior into Latin pop?

Leslie Grace also helped write the lyrics, and the single became the first by a Korean act to enter Billboard's Latin Digital Song Sales chart.

The H in Super Junior-H, the 2008 sub-unit devoted to novelty bubblegum pop, stands for which word?

Happy completed the unit's full name, and its lineup was Super Junior-T's with Yesung in place of Heechul. Its only EP, Cooking? Cooking!, arrived in June 2008.

Which 2011 debut single by the duo Super Junior-D&E got a second music video directed by bandmate Shindong?

Oppa, Oppa gave Shindong his directorial debut, and he edited the alternate video too. The duo had first played the song live at a concert a month before its release.

Who signed Super Junior's Yesung up for the 2001 SM Entertainment audition that made him a trainee?

His mother, Im Bo-kyung, entered him two years after he won gold at a singing contest in Cheonan, and he was signed the same year.

Super Junior's Shindong chose a stage name because his birth name resembled Donghae's; what does Shindong mean?

Child prodigy fitted a dancer who had already won the grand prize at a youth dance contest in 2002. The name joins his surname, Shin, to the first character of his given name.

Born in Mokpo, Super Junior's Donghae wanted which career before his father pushed him towards singing?

Football player was the boy's own dream, but his father had abandoned hopes of becoming a singer himself and wanted his son to try.

In 2011 a government ministry in Seoul named Super Junior honorary ambassadors to promote what around the world?

Korean food was the brief from the agriculture and fisheries ministry. The group had already become the face of the Korean Red Cross blood donation campaign in 2007.

Super Junior's Siwon played the second male lead in which 2015 MBC romantic comedy, just before his military service?

She Was Pretty cast him as Kim Shin-hyuk, and the role won him Best Supporting Actor at the DramaFever Awards the following year.

On which weekly music show did Super Junior debut in November 2005 and later win a first trophy with U?

Inkigayo, also called Popular Songs, handed over that first trophy in June 2006, after the free download of U had passed 400,000 in five hours and gone on to crash the server.

Super Junior sold 12,000 tickets within days for a two-day 2008 fan meeting at which Tokyo venue?

Nippon Budokan staged the two-day event, and a double A-side single released to mark it climbed to number four on the Oricon daily chart.

In Super Junior's 2007 film Attack on the Pin-Up Boys, why do two students try to get themselves attacked?

To gain popularity, the pair bait the attacker after earlier victims landed a modelling contract and a record deal. It was the first film produced by SM Pictures.

Which 2011 Super Junior album became South Korea's first in four years to sell more than half a million copies?

Mr. Simple won the Disk Daesang at the Golden Disk Awards, and its title track was billed as the final version of the group's 'SJ Funky' sound.

Which R&B ballad became the second single from Super Junior's album Don't Don, softening its dark punk image?

Marry U arrived in a new version on the repackaged album, and the group traded bleached punk hairstyles for a classic look to promote it.

At which American ceremony did Super Junior win both International Artist and Best Fandom in August 2015?

Teen Choice Awards voters made the group the first act from Asia to take the International Artist prize, a decade after its debut.

By March 2020, Super Junior albums had topped KKBOX's Korean album chart for 122 consecutive weeks in which market?

Taiwan's KKBOX Music Awards also named the group Artist of the Year in 2019, the first time a non-Chinese act had taken the prize.

Under which duo name has Super Junior's Heechul released songs such as Sweet Dream with singer Min Kyung-hoon?

Universe Cowards is a name the two coined while filming a variety show together, and Heechul wrote the lyrics of Sweet Dream himself.

Which Mexican band features on One More Time, the title track of Super Junior's 2018 Latin pop EP?

Reik's collaboration entered Billboard's Latin Pop Digital Song Sales chart at number five, and it was Ryeowook's first recording with the group after his military discharge.

Super Junior's debut single Twins reworked the 2003 UK top-ten hit Knockout by which English boy band?

Triple Eight were marketed as a British answer to NSYNC, but their label dropped them before a debut album appeared. The Korean cover followed two years after the original.

The trio Super Junior-K.R.Y. debuted in 2006 with The One I Love, a soundtrack song for which tvN drama?

Hyena gave the three main vocalists their first songs together, and the unit took its name from the first letters of their stage names.

Besides its rotating lineup, Super Junior was modelled on which Japanese boy band of singers who also act and present?

SMAP's mix of music and screen work suited a lineup in which two members were already established actors when the group debuted.

Which label did Super Junior's Donghae and Eunhyuk found in September 2023 after leaving SM Entertainment as soloists?

ODE made the pair co-chief executives and took over their duo's releases, making it the first Super Junior sub-unit run by a different company from the group.

Before Super Junior debuted, Heechul began acting in 2005 in the second season of which KBS youth drama?

Sharp paired him with his labelmate Go Ara, and the part led on to presenting jobs, a music show and his first advertisements.

Super Junior marked fifteen years in 2021 with the compilation Star, released in Japan through which music company?

Avex Trax issued the anniversary set with only two new songs, yet it still reached number three on the Oricon daily albums chart on release day.