Taeyangs Life Story

2013-2016: Rise, first world tour and collaborations

2013–2016: Rise, first world tour and collaborations

Taeyang took two years to record new materials and participate in promotional activities with Big Bang for their Korean EPs (2011) and (2012) as well as the Japanese studio album (2012). When activities wrapped up, he turned his focus back to preparing for his second studio album. The single "" was released in November 2013, preceding his second album (2014). While he utilized the help of , , and , Taeyang also involved himself with its production, producing six tracks.Rise became the third highest charting K-pop album, and also the highest charting K-pop album by a solo artist on the Billboard , reaching 112 on the Billboard Hot 200 while topping the Billboard World Albums Chart and Heatseekers Albums Chart, selling 3,000 copies. In Japan, the album ranked at number two, with 48,000 units sold. Taeyang released another two singles to promote the album: "" and "1AM." The former became his first chart topper on the while the latter peaked at number seven. The choreography for "Ringa Linga" spawned numerous covers on the video-sharing website YouTube, while "Eyes Nose Lips" was covered by various celebrities, including label-mates , , Lydia Paek as well as Korean singer and Canadian pop star . Comedian also parodied it on the popular variety program . "Eyes, Nose, Lips" was the second best-performing single of 2014 in South Korea.

Taeyang then embarked on the in support of the album, visiting 9 countries and 16 cities in Asia beginning in August 2014. The tour concluded in early 2015 with an attendance of over 100,000 fans. At the , Taeyang won , and for "Eyes, Nose, Lips".

Taeyang with G-Dragon in November 2014 to release the song "" for YG Entertainment's new hip hop . The song received positive reviews, with naming it one of best songs of the year, and debuted at the number one position on Billboard's World Digital Songs chart, the third time a Korean act topped the list and the first for a male group. The music video on YouTube currently boasts over 100 million views.

For two years from 2015 to 2016, Taeayng toured extensively with his band for their , performing for over 3.6 million fans in two years. In 2015, Taeyang participated in the biennial Infinite Challenge music festival, with bandmate G-Dragon. The duo teamed up with 's and released the single "Mapsosa", which peaked at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart.The same year, he appeared on 's as a featured singer on labelmate 's single "Fear," composed by during the semi-finals which became one of the best-selling singles of the year.