What is "pentatonix"

Pentatonix (often abbreviated as PTX) is an American a cappella group from Arlington, Texas consisting of five vocalists: Avi Kaplan, Scott Hoying, Kirstin Maldonado, Kevin Olusola, and Mitch Grassi. Their work, which is mostly in the pop style, consists of covers of existing songs, sometimes in the form of medleys, along with their original material. Their music is defined by their own arrangement style, tight vocal harmonies, extensive vocal riffing, deep and steady vocal basslines, and a diverse range of vocal percussion and beatboxing.

Pentatonix formed in 2011 and came to prominence the same year by winning the third season of The Sing-Off on NBC, their victory earning them $200,000 and a recording contract with Sony Music. After being dropped from Epic after The Sing-Off, the group formed their popular YouTube channel and distributed their music through Madison Gate Records, a small independent label owned by Sony Pictures that mainly distributes movie soundtracks. The group also makes effective use of social media to interact with their fan base.

Having now eclipsed 10.5 million subscribers and more than 1.54 billion total views, Pentatonix's official YouTube channel is currently the 13th most subscribed music video channel and the 44th most subscribed channel overall, with their most viewed music video being a tribute to Daft Punk that has accumulated over 200 million views.

Their debut EP PTX, Volume 1 was released in 2012, followed by their holiday release PTXmas the same year, with Pentatonix's third release, PTX, Vol. II, debuting at number 1 on Billboards Independent Albums chart and number 10 on the Billboard 200 in 2013. In May 2014, Pentatonix signed with RCA Records, a "flagship" label of Sony Music Entertainment, while in the same year, the group released their fourth EP, PTX, Vol. III, and two full-length studio albums; PTX, Vols. 1 & 2, a compilation album released in Japan, Korea and Australia, and their second holiday release, That's Christmas to Me, with the album certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), platinum on December 24, 2014, and double platinum on February 11, 2016, becoming the highest-charting holiday album by a group since 1962, and the fourth-best-selling album in the United States in 2014. The following year, Pentatonix released their eponymous album, their first consisting mostly of original material, which debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart for the first time in their career.

Pentatonix, together with music producer and arranger Ben Bram, won the Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella twice, first in 2015 for "Daft Punk" at the 57th Grammy Awards, and then again in 2016 for " Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" at the 58th Grammy Awards; they are the only a capella artist to have won the award.

Pentatonix is the eponymous overall fourth, and the first mainly originally-written, studio album by American a cappella group Pentatonix, which was released on October 16, 2015.

The release date was announced on Twitter by a series of pictures featuring the five band members released over a five-day-span, with one band member added to the picture each day, culminating in the date being revealed on August 28. It is the group's seventh release overall in their discography.

This is the first release of the band to feature predominantly original material (the only covers being the cover of Shai's " If I Ever Fall in Love" and the bonus tracks on the deluxe version of the album). Pentatonix also marks the first time band members receive individual songwriting credits for the majority of the tracks.

Pentatonix debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart with 98,000 album-equivalent units, with the album being their first No. 1 album on the chart.