One of Korea’s most popular music artist, CNBLUE have had one of the most successful years anyone in the music or entertainment world all together would dream about.

Since the beginning, this group of four fresh faced men has sought out to take over the world with their genuine talent and their unique brand of music. CNBLUE had a very busy yet widely successful year attaining world star status, becoming a highly accomplished artist in part to their ability to multi task responsibilities, all the while striving for new levels of success.

In January, MTV, decided to feature CNBLUE on the live acoustic program "MTV Unplugged" on January 31, 2012. MTV Unplugged is a music program that features intimate, acoustic live performance sets showcasing the artist in close contact with their fans. CNBLUE has been noted as being the first ever Korean artists to be featured on the program. For a young band that had only made their debut into the music industry just three short years prior, this was no small feat to say the least.

To show a manlier side to their music as well as in their personas, in February CNBLUE released "Where You Are" which featured a harder Rock sound that fit the 'coming of age' mood they wanted to present. A much anticipated follow up to "In My Head", "Where You Are" was chock full of personality. The tracks "Where You Are", and "Feeling", were written and composed by Jung Yong Hwa while the infectious "Get Away" was composed by Lee Jong Hyun. The well received "Where You Are" sold over 60,000 copies in its first week, hitting No.1 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart for the week of February 13th. A foreign band had not capped the singles chart in Japan for 41 years. CNBLUE is the fourth Korean male artist to have topped the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. Again, this is quite the achievement for four guys who started out as boys with a dream and now, just two years later, were breaking records and setting the bar higher than any other band of their kind.

March took the band to America for the first time ever. CNBLUE coupled with fellow label mates FTISLAND, embarked on their long awaited venture of breaking through into the Western world, via Los Angeles. CNBLUE held their first ever US concert, "Stand Up" by M Live held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, California. Being the first American performance for both groups, this event helped in marking further their international exposure and helped to strengthen the connection between CNBLUE and their American fans.

On May 5th, CNBLUE held their first ever Korean fan meet, 'The Story of You and I' at Yeonsei University and were united with hundreds of their fans for a heartfelt meeting where they expressed their love and gratitude to their fans for the support given to them. In the same event, the boys stated, "The members will be seeing each other for the next 50 or 60 years," and promised their everlasting friendship to their fans.

In 2012, both Lee Jong Hyun and band youngest Lee Jung Shin both became full-fledged actors when they both accepted their first drama roles on SBS' "A Gentleman's Dignity" and "My Daughter Seo Yeong" on KBS respectively. In the meantime, aside from working on music for CNBLUE, Jung Yong Hwa has also tried his hand at producing music. Fellow label mate, Juniel embarked on her major Korean debut on June 7th with the assistance of Jung Yong Hwa whom was responsible for singing duet and producing the first single, "Fool". The song was included on her first mini album My First June which helped to launch the career of the singer in Korea.

CNBLUE's 1st full length Major Japan album titled, Code Name Blue was released on August 29th 2012 and quickly climbed the top of the Oricon charts topping them for two weeks straight. Featuring thirteen tracks, eleven of which were self-composed and written by lead guitarist Lee Jong Hyun and lead vocalist Jung Yong Hwa respectively, the success of Code Name Blue would ultimately help to solidify CNBLUE as a self-contained band who could write their own hit making music.

Just a few weeks later, on September 21st, CNBLUE would hold their first concert in yet another foreign country. The young rock band would make their very first appearance on UK soil and prepare for their first solo concert "CNBLUE, Live in London" in London, England to a sold out arena of over 5,000 European fans. The concert, just like their LA "Stand up Live", proved to be another successful step on CNBLUE's path to becoming the global stars they dreamed to be thus proving that no matter what CNBLUE touch turns to Idol gold.

Most recently, CNBLUE made their way to South America along with some of the top popular K-Pop groups to participate in KBS' "Music Bank En Chile". This would be CNBLUE's first time in South America and their second performance on the "Music Bank World Tour". The Chile leg of the tour took place on November 2nd 2012 at Quinta Vergara, Viña del Mar, in Chile.

With the support of a loving and loyal fan-base that expands the world behind them, CNBLUE show us that they have what it takes to have a long and fruitful career with many years to come and many more milestones to add to their already impressive list of accomplishments.

Writer: Mari (CNBStorm / colormecnblue) | Photo Credits: FNC, KpopStarz