GD and TOP

2010–2011: Formation and GD & TOP

YG Entertainment announced the a sub-unit between G-Dragon and T.O.P under the name "GD & TOP" in November 2010, and to release an album with the same name. The duo held a worldwide premiere showcase for their album at Times Square in Yeongdeungpo of Seoul, which was also broadcast live on YouTube. To promote their album, they released three singles: "High High", "Oh Yeah", and "Knock Out". The singles attained commercial successes, topping the charts in South Korea. The album was released on Christmas Eve, and debuted at number one on the Gaon Chart with pre-orders of 200,000 copies, eventually topping 130,000 copies sold. As of 2015 the album sold 200,000 copies. For this album, G.Dragon and T.O.P released 3 MVs for the tracks, "High High", "Knock Out", and "Baby Goodnight". "High High" was released first, then "Baby Goodnight." However, due to the song being banned twice for being too explicit, the release of the music video for their song "Don't Go Home" was postponed till late June 2011.

2015: "Zutter"

After a four years hiatus, YG Entertainment announced that the duo will comeback with a new single as a part of Big Bang's Made Series E. The teasers were released on July 25, 2015 with the song name "Zutter". The song was commercially success selling 280,817 digital copies in the first week on Gaon Chart and peaked at number two in Digital Chart and Download Chart behind Big Bang other song "Let's Not Fall In Love", it charted at number seven on the Streaming Chart with total 4.334 million streams, 19th on BGM Chart and 32nd on Mobile Chart. On the second week the song dropped to number four on Digital Chart and raised to number two on Streaming Chart with 5.210 million streams and sold 116,572 copies. The single charted second on US Billboard World Digital Songs and Chinese QQ Music video chart. In the end of 2015, the song sold 982,710 copies in South Korea and 6,000 in USA.

Impact

"Knock Out" and "High High" were both listed as one of the best K-Pop music videos by Stereogum, ranking at #7 and #4, respectively. "High High" was also named the 7th Greatest K-Pop Song of All Time by Spin Magazine, while Billboard called "Knock Out" "K-pop at its best."

XXL Magazine listed the duo as one of "15 Korean Rappers You Should Know", stating that "if it wasn’t for acts like these two, Korean rap probably wouldn’t have amassed such international appeal that it’s garnering now. K-Pop’s currently full of boy bands with designated rapper as a member, and nine out of ten times they’re modeled after these two."