EXO

EXO was formed by SM Entertainment in 2011 and officially debuted on April 8, 2012, with the mini album Mama. The group originally launched with 12 members split into two sub-units – EXO-K, promoting in Korean, and EXO-M, promoting in Mandarin – before consolidating into a single unit from 2015 onward. Their debut year introduced the group’s signature “EXO Planet” universe, in which each member possesses a unique supernatural power.

The group’s breakthrough came with their first studio album XOXO (2013) and its repackage single “Growl,” which sold over a million copies and became a career-defining hit, eventually surpassing 500 million YouTube views. Subsequent studio albums – Exodus (2015), Ex’Act (2016), The War (2017), Don’t Mess Up My Tempo (2018), and Obsession (2019) – each sold over a million copies, cementing EXO’s status as SM Entertainment’s flagship boy group of the 2010s.

The lineup changed over the years: Kris, Luhan, and Tao departed amid legal disputes between 2014 and 2016, leaving the current nine-member configuration. Members also built successful solo and sub-unit careers, including EXO-CBX (Chen, Baekhyun, Xiumin) and EXO-SC (Sehun, Chanyeol), alongside acting, solo music, and variety show work.

Military service obligations shaped the group’s activity cycle from 2019 onward, with members enlisting and returning in stages. In 2023, EXO released Exist, their best-selling album in South Korea with over two million copies sold. After a period of solo focus and contract negotiations – including a dispute involving the EXO-CBX members and their new label INB100 – EXO returned in January 2026 with their eighth studio album, Reverxe, promoted by six members (Suho, Lay, Chanyeol, D.O., Kai, Sehun), debuting at number one on multiple charts and marking the group’s first full comeback in over two years.