Since 2014, EXO has exclusively performed as one group, while continuing to release and perform music in multiple languages. Previously, the band debuted with twelve members separated into two sub-groups: EXO-K (Suho, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, and Sehun) and EXO-M (Xiumin, Lay, Chen, and former members Kris, Luhan, and Tao). EXO-K and EXO-M performed music in Korean and Mandarin, respectively, until the release of their third EP Overdose in 2014.On July 18th, 2017, EXO’s fourth studio album The War was released. The album had received 807,235 pre-orders, surpassing the band’s own record of 660,000 for Ex’Act. Lead single “Ko Ko Bop” debuted at number one on the Melon Digital Chart, making EXO the first K-Pop group to enter at number one after chart changes were implemented on February 27th, 2017. Let’s learn more about EXO’s 4th comeback, The War!
4th Album: The War
On July 8th, EXO’s official Twitter account was made public, through which SM Entertainment revealed the first teaser video for the album. Also on July 8th, EXO’s official Instagram account opened by posting the three versions of EXO’s new album logo. On July 10th, the album’s title was announced to be The War.SM started releasing teasers of the repackaged edition of the album with the message “The Power of Music.” The first teaser titled #Total_Eclipse, which was the first seen during the teaser trailers of the group’s debut, and their first song “What Is Love,” was released on August 21st, 2017, at the same time as when the Solar eclipse of August 21st, 2017, happened. The second teaser was released on August 28th titled #Parallel_Universe.The War is the fourth studio album by South Korean boy band EXO. It was released digitally on July 18th, 2017, and physically on July 19th, 2017, by SM Entertainment under Genie Music’s distribution. The album includes a total of nine tracks including the lead single “Ko Ko Bop.” The album was re-released under the title The War: The Power of Music on September 5th, 2017. This was the first EXO release not to feature member Lay, who began an indefinite hiatus shortly before the music video for “Ko Ko Bop” was filmed, and the last album to be separately released in both Korean and Chinese language.Prior to its release, The War received a record-breaking pre-order by retail outlets of 807,235 physical copies, making it the K-Pop album with the highest number of pre-orders at that time. Within one week of its release, the album sold over 600,000 physical copies and received the highest number of pre-orders at the time for a K-Pop album, at more than 800,000 physical copies. 24 days after being released, EXO recorded album sales of approximately 1,012,021 copies, making The War the second-fastest album in the Gaon Chart history to achieve this milestone. EXO thus became quadruple million-sellers for having four albums with over 1,000,000 sales.
Music Video
