Be:First (stylized in all caps) is a Japanese boy band formed and managed by BMSG and signed to B-ME, a joint record label with Avex. The group was formed on November 3, 2021, through the reality competition show The First, which is hosted by Sky-Hi and debuted on August 31, 2022 with heir studio album Be:1. The group consists of six members: Sota, Shunto, Manato, Ryuhei, Junon, and Leo; Ryoki left the band in 2025.
The group is BMSG's first act. Sky-Hi created the company after identifying issues in the Japanese music industry, including a lack of opportunities for talent to showcase themselves, which led talented performers to leave Japan for the wider opportunities offered by the Korean music industry.
Name
The group's name, Be:First, was chosen with the intention of "always aiming for the top", and Sky-Hi hopes that the group will "continue to respect and love the fact that others are number one at the same time as they continue to be number one themselves". Their official fandom name is Besty (stylized in all caps), which was coined by combining the first and last two letters of the group's name to mean bestie (best friend).
History
2021: Formation and debut
On April 2, the audition of The First (stylized in all caps) started airing on Nippon Television Network's information program Sukkiri and online streaming service Hulu. On August 13, the group name and members were announced on the last episode of the audition program. On August 16, the group's digital pre-debut track, "Shining One", was released.
On the Billboard Japan chart released on August 25, their digital pre-debut track, "Shining One", made its first appearance at number one on the Download Songs, number two on the Streaming Songs, and number two on the overall Japan Hot 100. The song was also ranked number one on the Oricon Weekly Digital Single ranking on the same day, and ranked first on the Oricon Weekly Streaming ranking. Be:First became the second artist in history to achieve this double crown as the same work has simultaneously reached number one in both the weekly digital single and streaming rankings.
Despite their pre-debut, Be:First performed on several TV programs, including NTV's Sukkiri (August 25) and Buzz Rhythm 02 (September 10), NHK's Shibuya no Oto (September 11), and TV Tokyo's Premiere Melodix! (September 11). The group was also featured in the industry magazine Nikkei Entertainment. Be:First appeared on September 18 as the opening act at SuperSonic 2021, a music festival held as an alternative event to Summer Sonic Festival, and gave their first performance in front of an audience.
On 3rd November, they made their major debut with the release of their first single "Gifted", which topped the Billboard Japan Hot 100. Within a week of the release, it had more than 14 million streams, the third-highest number of weekly streams in Oricon history behind BTS and LiSA.
2022–present: Be:1 and Watch Me Be:First collaborated with Jonas Blue to release the Japanese version of "Don't Wake Me Up" on July 13, 2022. The group released their debut studio album Be:1 (stylized in all caps) on August 31, preceded by their first two singles, "Gifted.", and "Bye-Good-Bye". The album topped the Billboard Japan Hot Albums chart. Be:1 was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of Japan for having sold over 100,000 copies, with them later embarking on their first national tour, Be:First 1st One Man Tour "Be:1" 2022–2023
They released a number of charting songs in 2022 and 2023, including the number-one songs "Bye-Good-Bye", "Scream", "Boom Boom Back" and "Mainstream". Following the digital release of "Bye-Good-Bye", Be:First became the first artist in Oricon history to achieve number one rankings in both downloads and streams in same week for a single work three times – the previous two being "Shining One" and "Gifted". In another achievement, with the release of "Scream" Be:First became the first artist to have five songs win two number-one Oricon digital-ranking titles for a single work within the same week. With "Boom Boom Back", Be:First achieved their seventh number one on Oricon's Weekly Digital Song chart. The song also was number one on the Streaming chart, giving them a digital "double crown", thus breaking their own record and making them artist with the most digital double crowns for a single work in history. They continued break records when Mainstream topped both the Oricon Digital Song Ranking and Streaming Ranking, bringing their total number of digital "double crowns" to seven, the most for any artist in Oricon history.
They embarked on their Be:First Arena Tour 2023–2024 "Mainstream", their first national arena tour. It was held from November 1, 2023, to February 24, 2024, in nine cities, featuring a total of 22 shows. They further added four more shows for March and April, Be:First Live in Dome 2024 "Mainstream" – Masterplan, with two shows each at the Tokyo Dome and Kyocera Dome.
In 2025, they embarked on their first world tour, BE:FIRST World Tour 2025 ~ Who is BE:FIRST? The tour included stops in the USA, Europe and Asia. Ryoki did not participate in the European leg of the tour due to illness.
From November 1, 2025, to February 15, 2026, they embarked on their second fan meeting tour, BE:FIRST 2nd Fan Meeting -Hello My "BESTY" vol.2-, their first fan meeting tour in approximately four years. The tour was held across 10 cities in Japan, featuring a total of 23 shows.
On May 16 and 17, 2026, they held their first stadium concerts, BE:FIRST Stadium Live 2026 We are the "BE:ST", at Ajinomoto Stadium.
From September 25 to October 23, 2026, they are scheduled to hold their second world tour, BE:FIRST WORLD SHOWCASE 2026, with performances in Bangkok, Thailand; Taipei, Taiwan; Manila, the Philippines; and New York City, United States.
An additional show in New York City on October 22, 2026 was announced on June 14, 2026.
In July 2026, the group released "Bruce Wayne", featuring Flo Milli & ATL Jacob, as the lead single to their EP Watch Me, which is scheduled to release on September 18, 2026.
Members Current members
Former members (2021–2025)
Discography Studio albums + List of studio albums, with selected details, chart positions, sales, and certifications Title Details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications JPN JPNCmb. JPNHot 2:Be: Be:st: Be:1 Released: August 31, 2022 Label: B-Me Formats: CD, CD+DVD, CD+BD, LP, DL, streaming 1 1 1 JPN: 185,563 RIAJ: Gold 2:Be Released: August 26, 2024 Label: B-Me Formats: CD, CD+DVD, CD+BD, LP, DL, streaming 1 1 1 JPN: 106,908 RIAJ: Gold
Compilation albums + List of compilation albums, with selected details, chart positions and sales Title Details Peak chart positions Sales Certifications JPN JPNCmb. JPNHot Be:st Released: October 29, 2025 Label: B-Me Formats: CD, CD+DVD, CD+BD, DL, streaming 4 3 2 JPN: 93,712 RIAJ: Gold
Extended plays + List of extended plays, with selected details, and chart positions Title Details Peaks JPNCmb. US USWorld Watch Me Released: September 18, 2026 Label: B-Me Formats: CD, DL, streaming 7 130 3
Singles + List of singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released, sales, certifications, and album name Title Year Peaks Sales Certifications Album JPN JPNCmb.Chart positions not listed in the main source:
JPNHotPeaks on the Billboard Japan Hot 100:
"Gifted." 2021 2 2 1 RIAJ: Platinum Gold Be:1 "Bye-Good-Bye" 2022 3 2 1 RIAJ: Gold Platinum "Smile Again" 2023 2 2 2 JPN: 134,934 RIAJ: Gold Gold 2:Be "Salvia" — 8 41 Be:st "Mainstream" 2 2 1 JPN: 146,893 RIAJ: Gold Platinum 2:Be "Masterplan" 2024 2 2 1 JPN: 109,557 RIAJ: Gold Gold "Hush-Hush" — 6 1 "Royal" — — 22 "Sailing" 1 1 4 JPN: 100,509 RIAJ: Gold Gold Be:st "Spacecraft" 2025 1 RIAJ: Gold "Grit" 2 2 1 JPN: 100,039 RIAJ: Gold "Under the Same Sky" 2 2 2 JPN: 77,568 "Stare in Wonder" — 8 3 "Be First All Day" 2026 4 8 1 JPN: 52,823 "Doesn't Really Matter" (Remix) — — 12 JPN: 8,268 "Missing" 1 1 1 JPN: 94,108 RIAJ: Gold "Bruce Wayne" — 35 18 Watch Me "Watch Me" — 26 24 "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.
Promotional singles + List of promotional singles, with selected chart positions, showing year released, certifications, and album name Title Year Peaks Certifications Album JPNCmb. JPNHot "Shining One" 2021 3 2 RIAJ: Gold Be:1 "Kick Start" 5 7 "Gifted." "Brave Generation" 2022 7 6 Be:1 "Betrayal Game" 3 3 RIAJ: Gold "Don't Wake Me Up" 26 16 Together "Scream" 3 1 Be:1 "Boom Boom Back" 2023 2 1 RIAJ: Platinum 2:Be "Glorious" 10 7 "Set Sail" 2024 9 12 "Masterplan" "Gifted" 8 13 Be:st "Blissful" 2 1 RIAJ: Gold 2:Be "Muchū" 2025 14 13 RIAJ: 2× Platinum Be:st "Secret Garden" 6 2 "I Want You Back" 8 4 "Lighting Up the Town" 6 1 "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that region.
Other charted songs +List of other charted songs, with selected chart positions, showing year released and album name Title Year Peaks Album JPNHot "BF Is..." 2022 70 Be:1 "Great Mistakes" 2023 80 "Smile Again" "Rondo" 2026 14 "Be First All Day" "Why, Why" 52 "Missing"
Awards and nominations + Name of the award ceremony, year presented, award category, nominee(s) of the award, and the result of the nomination Award ceremony Year Category Nominee(s)/work(s) Result MTV Video Music Awards Japan 2025 Best Editing "Masterplan" Japan Record Awards2022 Excellent Work Award"Bye-Good-Bye" Japan Record Awards2023Excellent Work Award"Mainstream" Japan Record Awards2024Excellent Work Award"Masterplan" Japan Record Awards2025Excellent Work Award"Muchu"
Notes
References
External links