Arguably one of the biggest groups in K-Pop today, EXO has been on the scene since 2012 and has had their fair share of struggles in that time. Long time fans of the group will remember the early days and how quickly the group dynamic and concepts shifted to bring us to the present. EXO’s story is a long and arduous road, one that has defined the group’s journey to success. 

Two Moons: EXO-M and EXO-K

EXO began as a twelve member group split down the middle: EXO-K was to focus on promotion in Korea while EXO-M focused on China. The four original Chinese members Kris, Luhan, Tao and Lay, alongside Chen and Xiumin, made up EXO-M, while leader Suho, Sehun, Kai, Baekhyun, D.O. and Chanyeol represented EXO-K. The members were introduced through a series of short teaser films, most of which were accompanied by early, not yet complete versions of songs that would later be released on their albums.

The group pre-released mini-album tracks “History” and “What Is Love,” but the full depth of their debut concept was fully showcased when they finally appeared on the scene with “Mama,” a debut track this is particularly notorious in the K-Pop community not only for its extremely long and eccentric story-heavy opening, but for the dark and chanting rhythm that began the song itself. To sum up the intro of the video, it basically just explains the concept of each member of EXO having a special superpower, with the group split into two different factions. Yes, EXO began their career on the basis of having superpowers. There’s no question that “Mama” left a long-lasting impression, especially since the choice of a darker, more story-heavy concept to begin their career with was considered more unusual than it is today.

While the split groups found success in their target markets, with EXO-K peaking at No.1 on the Gaon Albums Chart and EXO-M peaking at No.2 on the Sina Albums Chart, the decision to bring the members back together as a whole was made in 2013, and EXO made their first comeback with first studio album XOXO and lead title “Wolf.” The track got the group their first music show win on Music Bank. Two months later, the repackage of XOXO was released with lead title “Growl,” the song largely credited with bringing EXO their commercial success. This repackage also helped push XOXO over a million sales, which made the group the first South Korean act to reach that milestone in 12 years. In December of that year, EXO released their first Winter album Miracles in December. On top of that, EXO took home a slew of awards during the 2013 year-end awards, including “Song of the Year” at the Melon Music Awards, “Disc Daesang” at the Golden Disc Awards, and “Album of the Year” at MAMA. Just a year and a half into their career, and EXO were already a household name.

Trouble Just Below the Surface

Riding high into 2014, the collective of EXO once again split into their duo groups for the release of Overdose. This was the most pre-ordered Korean EP in history, and landed EXO-K at No.2 on the Billboard World Albums Chart, and on top of that became a best selling release in 2014 in South Korea. However, only days after the release of the album, popular Chinese member Kris filed a lawsuit against SM Entertainment, looking to terminate his contract under the grounds that the company was disregarding his health and practicing unfair profit distributions. A few months later Luhan also followed in suit, claiming he was experiencing health problems and that the company treated him differently from the Korean members. This sparked massive controversy amongst fans, with a faction supporting the two Chinese artists in their fight, while another claimed it was a gross misstep on the artists’ part. As such, this period  is considered to be a fairly grim one for many EXO-L’s, despite the commercial success the group enjoyed despite it all.

As 2015 rolled in, EXO once again came together as a full group to release second full album Exodus, achieving another round of a million sales and a third consecutive win for “Album of the Year” at MAMA and a new record spot on the U.S. Billboard 100 and Billboard Canadian Hot 100. Tao was absent during the promotional period for lead single “Call Me Baby” reportedly due to injury, but not much later he became the third member to file a lawsuit against SM, extending the uproar from the year prior. The repackage of Exodus, Love Me Right, was released in June in Korea, and later as a single album in Japan as well with the title “Love Me Right ~romantic universe~.”

Special single “Lightsaber” was released in the late fall as a promotion for the newest Star Wars movie. This pre-release led up to their second winter album Sing For You, with dual lead singles “Sing For You,” an emotional ballad and “Unfair,” an upbeat and playful pop track that directly contrasted “Sing For You.” This concluded a heavy promotional schedule for the year of 2015, but the result was a myriad of different awards worldwide, and significant global recognition for the group. 

Moving Forward as Nine 

EXO took a break for the first half of 2016, with third full album EX’ACT hitting the scene in June with dual singles “Lucky One” and “Monster.” On top of continuing their domination of Korean charts and breaking their own records for pre-orders, “Monster” got the group their first No.1  on the Billboard World Digital Songs Chart, with “Lucky One” trailing behind at No.3. .

Two months later repackaged Lotto was released with the title of the same name, becoming EXO’s second No.1 on the World Digital Songs Chart. Within two months of its original release, EX’ACT became EXO’s third million seller album, earning the group the title “triple million sellers.” Lay turned to China to focus on solo activities, and due to rising tensions between China and Korea, his regular participation in EXO activities ceased during this time, which has yet to continue to this day. 2016 marked a point in focus on solo career activities, as well as the debut of the first sub-unit EXO-CBX. Though in China and no longer with his group, Lay began his solo career through SM Station and even broke a number of Guinness World Records with the release of his first solo mini-album Lose Control, which debuted at No.1 on Korea’s Gaon Album Chart.

Fast forward to Summer 2017 for the next full group album. Titled The War, the album surpassed all records set by the group up to that point, landing the group back on various Billboard charts, including the Billboard 200. The album repackage The War: The Power of Music was released in early September. Title track “Power” earned the group the highest recorded score of all time on M!Countdown with 11,000 points. This win also recorded the group 100th music show win. Continuing their trend, the boys released their third winter album Universe in 2017.

Rolling into 2018, EXO performed at the closing ceremony of the winter Olympics, serving as K-Pop representatives alongside well-known female soloist CL. Lay continued to thrive as a solo artist with the release of “Namanana”, his U.S. debut that topped the Billboard World Albums and Independent Albums chart while placing 21st on the Billboard 200, making him the highest charting Chinese pop artist to date. At the end of the year, the group released album Don’t Mess Up My Tempo and repackage Love Shot, making the boys the first artists to surpass ten million total album sales in Korea.

Present Day

As we bring EXO’s story to the present, the group as a whole has split off due to looming military enlistments, as often happens with seasoned groups. While Xiumin hit the age limit and was required to enlist, surprisingly, younger member D.O. also chose to enlist this year, a few years earlier than his cutoff. Chen and Baekhyun each debuted solo, while Sehun and Chanyeol debuted as duo EXO-SC. Members have also branched off into drama and variety show appearances. EXO is poised to come back on November 27, though they will be missing the two vocalists in the military as well as Chinese member Lay, so it remains to be seen how the album will turn out with three members, including a main vocalist, absent from the release.

Despite some setbacks early on in their career and the loss of three members, EXO’s momentum hasn’t slowed down one bit as their career heads to the hiatus period for the military. With many achievements under their belt both domestically and internationally, it’s not hard to see why this group is so popular the world over.