Search “CORTIS members” and you will land in the middle of a story most casual K-pop fans missed until this month. A five-member group that debuted barely a year ago is now sitting inside the Billboard 200 for its eighteenth straight week, a run that only one other K-pop act on the same label has ever beaten.
If the name CORTIS is new to you, that is the point of this guide. Before the chart numbers make sense, you need to know who these five members are, what makes their group structure unusual, and why a label that already has BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER decided to bet on a self-producing “creator crew” instead of a traditional idol lineup.
CORTIS is a five-member boy group under BigHit Music made up of Martin, James, Juhoon, Seonghyeon, and Keonho. Their second EP, GreenGreen, has now logged 18 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, the second-longest run by a K-pop act on that label after BTS’s ARIRANG. The record arrives just one year after their August 2025 debut.
Who Is CORTIS? Meet BigHit Music’s Newest Group
CORTIS debuted on August 18, 2025 with the digital single “What You Want,” becoming BigHit Music’s third group after BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. The name is built from six irregular letters pulled out of the phrase “Color Outside the Lines,” which the agency has described as the group’s guiding idea: thinking freely instead of following the standard idol formula.
That formula-breaking extends to how the group is structured. CORTIS is promoted as a self-producing “creator crew” rather than a group split into fixed vocalist and rapper lines. All five members are credited with contributing to songwriting, music production, choreography, and visual direction, which is a notable departure from how most label debuts are packaged. Their debut EP, “Color Outside the Lines,” entered the Billboard 200 at number 15 and set a first-day sales record for the group, eventually crossing two million in cumulative album sales.
CORTIS Members: Names, Roles, and Backgrounds
The lineup has stayed at five members since debut. Martin serves as the group’s leader, James is the oldest member, and Keonho is the maknae, the youngest member of the group. Because CORTIS avoids fixed vocal or rap positions, all five members rotate through writing, dance, and production credits rather than being locked into a single specialty.
| Member | Group Role | Notable Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Martin | Leader | Represented Iceland as a flag bearer at the 2018 Winter Olympics before debut |
| James | Oldest member | Active in songwriting and production credits across both EPs |
| Juhoon | Member | Part of the self-producing choreography and visual direction team |
| Seonghyeon | Member | Contributes to the group’s music production process |
| Keonho | Maknae | Youngest member of the five, active since debut |
The absence of a traditional “main vocalist” or “main rapper” label is intentional. CORTIS is marketed as a group where every member has creative input, which is part of why entertainment press has framed them as a departure from BigHit Music’s earlier groups rather than a copy of them.
CORTIS’s full chart history is tracked on Billboard’s official artist page, which updates weekly as GreenGreen continues its run.Why CORTIS Is Suddenly Everywhere: The GreenGreen Billboard Record
CORTIS released their second EP, GreenGreen, on May 4, 2026. The eight-track record, which includes the single “RedRed,” has done something none of the group’s previous releases managed: it has stayed on the Billboard 200 continuously since its debut week. As of the chart dated September 19, 2026, GreenGreen has spent 18 consecutive weeks on the chart after first entering at No. 3.
That number matters because of who it puts CORTIS next to. According to The Korea Daily’s English edition, GreenGreen’s 18-week run is the second-longest for any K-pop act on BigHit Music, trailing only BTS’s ARIRANG at 25 weeks. A separate report from Sports Khan’s English edition confirms the same 18-week figure and adds that GreenGreen is the longest-charting single album released by a K-pop boy group that has debuted within the past five years.
| Chart | Position (week of Sept 19, 2026) |
|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | 18 consecutive weeks charted; peaked at No. 3 |
| World Albums | No. 4 |
| Top Album Sales | No. 16 |
| Artist 100 | No. 74 (up four spots from the prior week) |
GreenGreen has also crossed 443.33 million cumulative streams on Spotify as of September 14, 2026, according to Sports Khan, while its expanded edition held at No. 166 on Spotify’s Weekly Top Albums Global chart for three straight weeks. For a group that debuted a little over a year ago, sustaining chart presence for nearly five months in a row is unusual even by K-pop’s own inflated release cycle standards.
How CORTIS Built This in Just One Year
Part of the explanation is structural. CORTIS launched under a label that already had BTS’s global fanbase infrastructure and TOMORROW X TOGETHER’s release playbook in place, which gave a brand-new group an unusually large built-in audience from week one. The debut EP’s first-day sales record and its two million cumulative sales figure suggest that infrastructure translated into real purchases, not just streaming numbers.
The other part is the group’s own positioning. By framing themselves as a self-producing creator crew instead of a standard idol lineup, CORTIS has been able to market its members’ individual creative work — production credits, choreography input, visual direction — as content in its own right. That gives fans more entry points into the group than a typical comeback cycle, and it is a large part of why entertainment outlets have covered CORTIS as a case study rather than just another rookie group.
None of this guarantees GreenGreen catches BTS’s 25-week ARIRANG record. But a rookie-era group closing in on a BTS benchmark within twelve months of debut is rare enough that Billboard, The Korea Daily, and Sports Khan have all treated it as a story worth tracking week by week.
What to Watch Next From CORTIS
With GreenGreen still active on four separate Billboard charts simultaneously, the next milestones to watch are whether the Billboard 200 run extends past week 18 and whether the Artist 100 climb continues now that it has gained four spots in a single week. Both numbers update every Tuesday on Billboard’s site.
If you are catching up on the wider K-pop and K-drama world CORTIS is part of, our guide to where K-pop fans stay in Seoul near HYBE, SM, and YG is a useful next stop before diving deeper into the artists themselves.
CORTIS Members FAQ
Who are the members of CORTIS?
CORTIS has five members: Martin, James, Juhoon, Seonghyeon, and Keonho. Martin is the group’s leader, James is the oldest member, and Keonho is the maknae. The group has stayed at five members since its August 2025 debut.
What agency is CORTIS under?
CORTIS is signed to BigHit Music, the same label behind BTS and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. CORTIS is the label’s third group, debuting on August 18, 2025.
What is GreenGreen and why is it charting so long?
GreenGreen is CORTIS’s second EP, released May 4, 2026, with eight tracks including the single “RedRed.” It has spent 18 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200, the second-longest run by a BigHit Music act after BTS’s ARIRANG, according to The Korea Daily and Sports Khan.
Does CORTIS have a main vocalist or main rapper?
No. CORTIS is promoted as a self-producing “creator crew” with no fixed vocal or rap positions. All five members contribute to songwriting, production, choreography, and visual direction instead of specializing in one role.
When did CORTIS debut?
CORTIS debuted on August 18, 2025 with the digital single “What You Want,” ahead of their first EP “Color Outside the Lines,” which debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200.
