Exo (Korean: 엑소; stylized as EXO) is a Chinese-South Korean boy band based in Seoul. Formed by S.M. Entertainment in 2011, the group consists of twelve members separated into two subgroups, EXO-K and EXO-M, performing music in Korean and Mandarin, respectively. EXO rose to fame with the release of their best-selling first album XOXO (2013), which contained the breakthrough hit "Growl". XOXO was a critical and commercial success, winning both Disk Daesang at the 28th Golden Disk Awards and Album of the Year at the 15th Mnet Asian Music Awards. It eventually went to sell over one million copies, putting EXO as the fastest-selling Korean artist in twelve years. Their third EP Overdose (2014) made EXO the highest-charting Korean male act on the Billboard 200.
In May 2014, Kris filed a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment to be removed from the group. Luhan followed suit in October 2014. Following their departures, EXO carried on with ten members.
