CORTIS Just Became the Only K-Pop Boy Group on Billboard's "21 Under 21" List
Billboard named CORTIS to its 2026 "21 Under 21" list on July 31, marking the group's first appearance and making it the only K-pop boy group among this year's honorees. The annual list ranks 21 acts under the age of 21 using a mix of album and streaming sales, social media reach, radio and TV performance, and overall industry impact - and CORTIS is the newest name on it less than a year after debuting.
Billboard's writeup pointed to the numbers behind the selection: CORTIS's debut EP, "Color Outside the Lines," opened at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 last September - the highest debut for a K-pop group album excluding project acts - before the follow-up, "GreenGreen," jumped to No. 3. Lead single "RedRed" reached No. 38 on the Billboard Global 200 and gave the group its first entry on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart. Billboard also gave the group one of its "breakout" Q&A features in the issue, alongside a handful of other honorees.
Member Juhoon told Billboard that sincerity outlasts trying to impress everyone, a sentiment echoed elsewhere in the group's response to the honor: members said their debut EP charting on the Billboard 200 already felt like a dream fulfilled, and that "GreenGreen" reaching the top three still feels hard to believe. Billboard's selection criteria weigh both hard numbers and career trajectory, meaning the list functions less as a snapshot and more as a bet on which young acts are still climbing. K-pop-adjacent acts KATSEYE and GIRLSET also made this year's list - KATSEYE for a second consecutive year, following its own Lollapalooza debut and two Grammy nominations, and GIRLSET on the strength of "Little Miss," its collaboration with Missy Elliott.
CORTIS's recognition lands in the same week the group opened the North American leg of its first headline tour in Toronto, following a Korean tour opener that drew criticism over its short runtime. A Billboard list doesn't settle whether the live shows have caught up to the chart numbers - it just confirms the chart numbers are real.
