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Exo Korean: 엑소; stylized as EXO) is a Chinese-South Korean boy band produced by S.M. Entertainment. Formed in 2011 in Seoul, South Korea, Exo comprises twelve members separated into two subgroups, Exo-K andExo-M, promoting their music simultaneously in both South Korea and China respectively. Their name was taken from exoplanet,a term referring to planets outside of the Solar System. Their debut single "Mama" was released on April 8, 2012, followed by the release of their debut EP Mama on April 9, 2012.
In May 2011, at a Hallyu business seminar held at Stanford University, Lee Soo-man spoke about a strategy of debuting a new boyband, in which they would be divided into 2 subgroups, promoting the same music simultaneously in South Korea and China by performing songs in both Korean and Mandarin. After several changes, in December 2011, the group finalized their name to EXO, taken from the word exoplanet. They are divided into two subgroups, EXO-K ('K' for Korean) for South Korea and EXO-M ('M' for Mandarin) for China. They debuted their first televised performance at SBS's annual Gayo Daejun event on December 29, 2011.
EXO-K and EXO-M's prologue single "What Is Love" was released on January 30, 2012, in mainland China and South Korea. The single peaked at number 88 on South Korea's Gaon Single Chart. On March 9, the group released their second prologue single "History", which was written and produced by Thomas Troelsen and Remee.The single peaked at number 68 on the Gaon Single Chart and number six on China's Sina Music Chart.
A concert for the group was held in Seoul's Olympic Stadium on March 31. Approximately 3,000 fans from 8,000 applicants were selected to attend. A second concert was held in the Great Hall of the Beijing University of International Business and Economics on April 1.
EXO-K and EXO-M released their debut single, "Mama", on April 8 followed by an EP, Mama, on April 9. On April 8, Exo-K performed on South Korea's music program The Music Trend, while EXO-M made their debut in China's Top Chinese Music Awards on the same day. Exo-M's album reached number two on China's Sina Album Chart, number five on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart, and number twelve on the Billboard World Albums Chart. Exo-K's album peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart and at number eight on the Billboard World Albums Chart. Exo-M's "Mama" music video reached number one on Chinese streaming websites, while Exo-K's version reached to number seven on YouTube's Global Chart. In late April 2012, Exo-M performed as a guest act for Super Junior's Super Show 4 concert tour in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In November 2012, EXO won Best New Asian Artist Group at the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards. EXO-K received three nominations at the 27th Golden Disk Awards, winning the Newcomer Award. EXO-M received the Most Popular Group award at the 2013 Top Chinese Music Awards.
XOXO was released in June 2013 to two versions, a Korean-language "Kiss" edition and a Mandarin-language "Hug" edition. Unlike during the Mama era, when EXO-K and EXO-M had separate promotions, XOXO was jointly promoted, mainly in South Korea. The subgroups collaborated for the album's lead single, "Wolf", but the rest of the album was recorded separately. The two versions collectively peaked at number one on the Billboard World Album Chart a week after release. Lead single "Wolf" peaked at number one on three of South Korea's music programs, earning the name "triple win." "Wolf" also won a trophy on MBC Music's Show Champion.
