Among about a hundred K-pop boy groups that debuted from 2012 to 2017, these are the only teams that remain active to date, without a member being kicked out or leaving.

While first and second-gen groups are busy building their "2nd heyday," it is quite saddening to see that a lot of third-gen boy groups are slowly starting to be inactive - and worse, disbanding.

However, these 5 boy groups remain complete and active amid the rise of fourth-gen stars.

Here Are 5 'Last Standing' 3rd-Gen Boy Groups

BTS

The "Prince of Pop" and "biggest boy group in the world" actually came from the third-gen era!

In 2013, BTS (Jin, J-Hope, RM, Suga, Jimin, V, and Jungkook) debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment (hereinafter HYBE). They didn't immediately earn fame, but they eventually garnered traction with releases "Boy in Luv," "Danger," and "I Need U."

They had their breakthrough in 2016 when they dropped their hit, "Blood, Sweat & Tears," followed by "DNA" and "Fake Love," and their popularity became unstoppable.

Although some members are currently in the military, the septet remains loyal to the group and HYBE by renewing their contracts altogether.

GOT7

In 2014, GOT7 was launched by JYP Entertainment and became massively popular with their song "Just Right."

In 2021, all seven members announced their departure from the company. and the members one by one confirmed their new start in new agencies.

But GOT7's loyalty to the members and iGOT7 is strong, and affirmed to fans that they will continue promoting as a group through their song, "Encore," released in the same year.

In May 2022, GOT7 officially made a comeback under Warner Music Korea with their self-titled album, their first release outside JYP.

The complete septet, comprised of Mark, Jay B, Jackson, Jinyoung, Youngjae, BamBam, and Yugyeom, participated in the release.

SEVENTEEN

The "Synchronization King" SEVENTEEN is also amongst the "last standing" boy groups of the third-gen era!

The group debuted in 2015 with 13 members - S.Coups, Jeonghan, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Woozi, DK, Mingyu, The8, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino.

They  rose to fame with songs "Adore U," "Mansae," "Pretty U," "Very Nice," "CLAP," and more, and even after eight years, they are still together, continuously rocking the music scene with bops after bops.

NCT 127

In July 2016, SM Entertainment introduced NCT's fixed unit NCT 127.

Originally, the team debuted with only seven members - Taeil, Taeyong, Yuta, Jaehyun, Winwin, Mark, and Haechan.

But in December of the same year, Johnny and Doyoung joined the group.

In 2018, Jungwoo joined the lineup.

A.C.E

A.C.E., formed by Beat Interactive in 2017 and co-managed by Swing Entertainment since 2021, is still one of the remaining active third-gen boy groups.

They continued to be active until 2021, but they had to pause their careers first to finish their military enlistment.

Wow was discharged in June 2023, and the other four members Donghun, Jun, Byeongkwan, and Chan are still serving.

READ MORE: 7 Idol Groups from '3rd-Gen K-pop Wave' You Should Stan: BLACKSWAN, XG, WayV, More!

For more K-Pop news and updates, keep your tabs open here at KpopStarz.

KpopStarz owns this article.

Written by Eunice Dawson.