Their debut studio album Welcome Back (2015) debuted atop the South Korean Gaon Album Chart and featured the number-one singles "My Type", "Apology", and "Dumb & Dumber", as well as the top-ten singles "Rhythm Ta", "Airplane", and "Anthem".

In 2018, their second studio album Return spawned the number-one single "Love Scenario", which topped the Gaon Digital Chart for a record-breaking six weeks.

Their fourth EP, Flashback (2022), set a new personal record for highest one-day and one-week sales.

Vocalist Ju-ne, under his initial stage name Junhoe, made a pre-debut appearance aged thirteen on the SBS variety show Star King.

The members subsequently appeared as backup dancers in Taeyang's music video for "Ringa Linga".

[6] In June 2014, Team B appeared in the reality survival program Mix & Match, a follow-up to WIN: Who Is Next to determine the final lineup of the boy group iKon.

YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-suk stated that the group's name was derived from the goal to become an "icon for Korea", hence the "K".

[7][8] It was reported that 150,000 fans applied to attend the final performance of the show, and before the announcement of iKon's official lineup, YG Entertainment's blog server crashed.

Ultimately, Junhoe, Donghyuk and Yunhyeong successfully retained their places in the lineup, with Chan-woo added as the group's final member.

Following the success of Mix & Match, iKon held fan meetings in South Korea, Japan, and China.

It was revealed that the group would be releasing their debut album Welcome Back in two parts, with six of the 12 tracks serving as singles.

At the end of the month, iKon received a MelOn All-Kill Popularity Award,[19] having sold 82,208 copies of the first half of Welcome Back.

The group participated in Chinese dance survival program Heroes of Remix in 2016 with Psy as their mentor.

[30][31] However, due to elevated political tensions between South Korea and China following the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) issue, iKon was edited out of the last episodes of the show.

[37] On June 18, an additional 22 concerts in eight Japanese cities were announced by YGEX, with 233,000 fans expected to attend, making it the longest and the largest arena tour held by the band in Japan.

[38][39] On March 2, 2017, YG Entertainment confirmed that iKon had begun filming two music videos for their new album that was set to be released in April.

The lead single "Love Scenario" was described as dance track with a circuitous melody and lyrics conveying a mellow yet upbeat reaction to a breakup.

[43] "Love Scenario" topped the Gaon Digital Chart for six weeks, making iKon the first artist to achieve this milestone.

[46][47] On June 12, 2019, B.I announced his departure from the group and terminated his exclusive contract with YG Entertainment, following drug allegations.

in April 2021, iKon competed in the reality competition series Kingdom: Legendary War alongside five other K-pop boy groups.

[51] In the show's finale, the group performed "At Ease" (열중쉬어), co-written and co-composed by labelmate Mino of Winner.

[52] In July, the group held the iKon Japan Tour 2022 in Kobe and Tokyo, selling out most of the shows.