Super Junior is a multi-talented music group from South Korea. Since the very beginning, every member has worked very hard to be where they are today. Practicing from day to night, they continued to refine their singing and dancing abilities. Who would have thought they would one day be known as "kings of the Hallyu Wave". In this one year, Super Junior has continued to gain recognition for their abilities from all over the world. From sold out concerts, to starring as main leads in dramas, the members are slowly branching out to different areas of entertainment and are continuing to excel in everything they set their hearts and passion on.

In January of 2012, Super Junior attended the 26th Golden Disk Awards. The Golden Disk Awards is a yearly awards show where the Music Industry Association of Korea presents awards to those with outstanding music achievements in the music industry. They came back with a total of 4 awards, the Disk Daesang, Bonsang, Popularity Award, and Ceci award. As of January 11, 2012, their winnings have decorated them to be the Korean artist with the most won awards in GDA, with a total of 13 awards in the history of the GDA or of Super Junior.

A week later, on January 19, Super Junior won the Daesang and Bonsang award at the 21st Seoul Music Awards. Super Junior's award streak continued on throughout the year, both as a group and as individuals. Later in the year, in November, Super Junior won Album of the Year, Naver LINE Award, and Best Global Group Award at the MNET Asian Music Awards (MAMA). In December, Shindong won the MBC Music Star Award at the Melon Music Awards. Leeteuk was also awarded the Entertainer of the Year award at the year-end SBS Awards, and also the Popularity Award at the MBC Entertainment Awards. The Golden Disk Awards, Seoul Music Awards, Melon Music Awards, and Mnet Asian Music awards are the biggest 4 music award shows in Korea and to win at all these ceremonies are considered one of the highest achievements one can get in the music industry. Additionally, Super Junior's prominence in the overall entertainment industry as reflected by Leeteuk's and Shindong's awards, confirm them to be the well-rounded entertainers they are well-respected to be.

Earlier in April, Super Junior fulfilled a dream they have always had - performing on European shores. With the welcoming arms of their devoted ELFs, Super Junior performed in front of 7,000 fans in Paris. Their stay in the City of Light was then later turned into an exquisite photo book collectible. Later in April, Kangin returned from his military service. With that, the group was back with 11 members, with Heechul still serving his military/civil service stint.

In May, Super Junior successfully ended their Super Show 4 world tour in Seoul with Encore Concerts on May 26th, and 27th. They started last November in Seoul, and had 24 successful, sold-out shows worldwide. They are also the first Korean artists to hold 2 solo concerts in Macau. Prior to that, they performed in back-to-back concerts within those two weeks, performing with the rest of SM artists at SMTown in Los Angeles, and then taking part in a history-making most globally watched K-Pop concert in history on the 21st, with MBC and Google tag-teaming to put together the Korean Music Wave concert held on the Google campus/Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California. The event, in which Super Junior was likely the most anticipated group in the lineup, was streamed live on YouTube, allowing fans all over the world to tune in.

In June, news of a comeback was released. Soon after, individual pictures of each member were released every single day. With the image concept, "Beautiful Men", Super Junior released their music video, "Sexy, Free & Single" in July. A manlier and sexier image was shown and this album was well received. Super Junior's 6th Album, Sexy, Free & Single featured 10 tracks. Affirming that they are not only a group who sings pre-made songs, Eunhyuk showed his songwriting prowess on this album by penning the lyrics to Gulliver. "Sexy, Free and Single" went on to dominate the physical album sales of 2012. Ranking #1 for 3 years in a row, Super Junior as the kings of digital album sales sold 117,718 physical copies of their album.

In August, Super Junior released a repackaged version of their 6th album, adding the tracks: "SPY", "Outsider", "Only U", and "Haru". Again, featuring their musical composition talents, Donghae and Leeteuk collaborated in composing "Only U", which was said to be a song for ELF. The release of the repackage album led to the release of a second lead music video for Super Junior's 6th album featuring the song "SPY".

In September, Super Junior became the honorary ambassadors for Gangnam District. In October, Eunhyuk had his first solo photo shoot for Singles Magazine. Also, Eunhyuk was put into SM Entertainment's dance unit team, "Younique". This album was released through the partnership of SM and Hyundai. This is the first time a car company has collaborated with an entertainment agency to release an album.

Also in October, Leeteuk, the forever leader, finally enlisted for his military service. With Leeteuk gone, and 2 other inactive members, the group is now down to only 10 active members. Two months into his service, Leeteuk was included to cast in a musical for the military, allowing the Korean public to once again see him as an entertainer even during his obligatory duties as a Korean citizen.

In November, Super Junior's 4th photo book was released. Title "Super Junior Boys in the City Season 4", it features pictures of Super Junior minus Kangin and Heechul, during their Paris activities. The book also contains essays and stories about their feelings about their debut, Leeteuk's enlistment, and their friendships. These were personally written by the members themselves. This photo book was released to commemorate Super Junior's 7th anniversary and was released simultaneously in Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. November 5 marked Super Junior's 7th anniversary. Having lasted 7 years is a major feat since the average lifespan of music groups is 5 years.

As for acting, Kibum returned to the small screen by starring in the drama "I Love Lee Tae Ri". Other members have also been offered opportunities to further enhance their acting careers. In June, Donghae was casted for "Miss Panda and Mr Hedgehog". In September, Siwon was casted in "The King of Dramas" for which his acting was well-received by viewers. In all of the other dramas Siwon has starred in, this one has shown a more comical side of him. In July, the members appeared in an episode of SNL Korea. This is the first time the group has starred in a show with a rating of 19+ and if you have seen the episode, you can see why. In addition, many of the other members have started to star in musicals. Kangin made his comeback by starring in "Goong". Kyuhyun starred as the male lead in "Catch Me If You Can". Sungmin starred in "Jack The Ripper" and Eunhyuk starred in "Fame". A lot of them have showed that through many hours of long practices, determination, and perseverance, one can achieve success.

As for businesses, a few of the members have started venturing out into the business world. Yesung opened up a glasses store called "WHYSTYLE", and a cafe called "Mouse Rabbit". Eunhyuk opened a branch of the national coffee and pastry franchise "Tous Les Jours". Donghae ventured in a waffle house called "The Grand Place". Shindong opened "Epic Lounge" and Siwon recently also invested in national coffee chain "Twosome Coffee". All businesses are proven to be a success, since many loyal fans visit these places every single day.

Most recently, the members are getting ready to promote new music through their subgroups, Super Junior M and Super Junior K.R.Y.

Marked with the title "Kings of the Hallyu Wave" this is only the beginning. With continued support from loyal fans all over the world, Super Junior will continue to grow and excel in all their future projects. There really is no stopping them. Whatever it is they set out to do -- acting or modeling, singing or dancing, hosting or even venturing out to businesses, for Super Junior anything and everything can be done.

Writer: Michelle Wong (The Super Junior Handbook) | Edited by: KpopStarz | Photo Credits: SM, KpopStarz