The group's first studio album, XOXO was released on June 2013 with two versions, a Korean-language "Kiss" edition and a Mandarin-language "Hug" edition. Unlike Mama era when Exo-K and Exo-M had separate promotions,
XOXO was jointly promoted; mainly in South Korea. Exo recorded together for the album's lead single , "Wolf", but the rest of the album tracks were recorded separately. The two versions collectively peaked at number one on the Billboard World Album Chart a week after release.
A repackaged version of XOXO, titled
Growl , was released on August 5, 2013 with three additional tracks. The reissue's lead single, "Growl ", was released on August 1, 2013. "Growl" achieved 10,554 points on The Music Trend charts, setting a new number one record on the show. "Growl" reached number one on all four of Korea's major music programs, winning a total of ten trophies in three consecutive weeks. The single peaked at number three on Billboard 's Korea K-Pop Hot 100 and number two on the Gaon 's Singles chart. As of December 2013, all versions of XOXO have collectively sold over 1,000,000 copies, making Exo the first Korean artist to sell over a million copies of one album in twelve years and breaking the record for being the fastest-selling K-pop act. XOXO was named Album of the Year at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards , making Exo the youngest ever boy band to win the award. XOXO is the best selling album in South Korea of 2013, winning the Disk Daesang Award at various award ceremonies like the Golden Disk Awards and Seoul Music Awards.
Exo's second EP Miracles in December was officially released December 9, 2013 as a special winter album through South Korean commercial outlets and online music stores. Exo jump-started album promotions through their reality show Exo's Showtime, which premiered on November 28, 2013 on the cable channel MBC Every 1. Baekhyun, Chen, and D.O. performed the EP's lead single, "Miracles in December", at M! Countdown on December 5. Luhan also joined the trio on stage for the lead single's promotions on other music broadcast programs.
Exo ended 2013 with six albums in the Gaon's Yearly Top 10 Best-Selling Albums, including all their 2013 album releases in both the Korean and Chinese version as well as their debut EP Mama.
Exo's third EP, Overdose , was released on May 7, 2014. Originally scheduled to be released on April 21, the album was delayed due to the
Sewol Ferry Accident on April 16.
Overdose was promoted similarly to
Mama, with Exo-M promoting primarily in China and Exo-K in South Korea. The album reached 660,000+ preorders before its release, making it the most pre-ordered mini-album in history. The Korean edition also peaked at No. 2 on Billboard 's World Albums Chart, and No. 129 on the "Billboard 200 ", making Exo the highest charting Korean male group act on the Billboard 200. Overdose became the best selling album in South Korea of 2014 and was the first mini album to top the yearly charts and win the Album of the Year Award at Mnet Asian Music Awards. By the end of the calendar year, Exo was Japan's biggest-selling K-pop artist of the year.
On May 15, 2014, S.M. Entertainment confirmed that Exo-M's leader, Kris , had filed a lawsuit against the agency to terminate his contract, stating violation of human rights as the main reason. On October 10, Exo-M's
Luhan also filed a lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment to nullify his contract, because of health issues and being treated differently than the Korean members, therefore having no promotions.
S.M. Entertainment announced that Exo would continue to promote with 10 members. The group held their first solo concert "Exo from Exoplanet ＃1 - The Lost Planet " starting May 24 at the Seoul Olympic Gymnasium. Tickets for the concert sold out in 1.47 seconds, breaking the record for the fastest sold out concert by a Korean artist.
Exo's second solo concert was announced in January 2015 entitled Exo Planet ＃2 - The Exo'luxion . Five concerts were held in Seoul at the Olympic Park Stadium starting March 7. 1.2 million fans had attempted to buy tickets online. On February 4, 2015, S.M Entertainment filed a counter-suit against Kris and Luhan for illegally continuing their promotions in China. The lawsuit was to stop their acting and advertisement under the use of the S.M trademark.
Exo's second studio album, Exodus , was released on March 30, 2015 in both Korean and Mandarin versions. Domestic pre-sales for the album surpassed 500,000 within 24 hours, setting a new record for pre-sales. The title track "Call Me Baby " was released early on March 27, due to leaked versions of the song. The music videos were released 4 days later, with the Korean version later becoming the most wached K-pop music video in the first half of 2015. Exo also starred in their own mini drama series titled Exo Next Door, which became the most watched Korean web drama in 2015 until later being surpassed by member Xiumin 's web drama, Falling for Challenge . "Call Me Baby" proved to be successful, winning eighteen times on
music shows , making it the second most awarded song of all times. The album's Korean version also broke records after staying at number one on the album chart for four consecutive weeks. Exodus eventually went on to sell over a million copies, and is the group's second album after XOXO to do so. It was named Album of the Year at the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards , making this the third consecutive win in this category for the group since 2013. In May, Exo broke the record on
U.S. Billboard 200 as the highest ranking Korean artist, topping at 90th place. Exo also entered the
Canadian Billboard Hot 100 chart at number 98, making them the first K-pop group and second Korean artist to enter the Canadian chart.
On April 22, member Tao's father posted a letter through Weibo expressing his sentiments for his son to withdraw from the group and return to China; due to lack of support concerning individual career developments and health issues. Tao had previously sustained several injuries which had not been properly treated that worsened and caused him to be absent during promotions for the group's second studio album
Exodus. On April 23, S.M. Entertainment released an official statement saying that they would be "seeking a solution in a developmental direction" by negotiating with Tao and his father. Tao later confirmed that he had left S.M. Entertainment and after failed negotiations, Tao filed an official lawsuit against S.M. Entertainment on August 24 for the termination of his exclusive contract.
On June 3, a repackaged version of
Exodus , titled Love Me Right, was released. This edition contains the original tracks from Exodus and four new songs, including the title track "Love Me Right". Due to Tao's absence, the group promoted the song as 9 members. On October 10, Exo became the first artist to hold a dome concert in South Korea with "Exo - Love Concert in Dome" at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Tickets for the event went on sale on September 21, causing the server to crash for over 50 minutes from high demand. In preparation for the concert, S.M. Entertainment also released Exo's first official light stick, which features a black wand topped with Exo's logo which displays a white light. 20,000 fans attended the concert.
On November 4, Exo released their debut Japanese single "Love Me Right ~romantic universe~", which contains the Japanese version of "Love Me Right" and an original Japanese song titled "Drop That". On the day of its release, the single sold a total of 147,000 copies and reached the top of the Oricon chart, becoming the best selling debut single in Japan by a Korean artist of all time. As part of the Exo'luxion tour, Exo performed for 145,000 fans at the Tokyo Dome from November 6–8, breaking the record for the shortest amount of time since debut to hold a concert at this venue.
On November 9, Exo released a special single titled "Lightsaber" to promote the movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens ahead of its release in South Korea, as part of the collaboration between S.M. Entertainment and Walt Disney .
On December 10, Exo released their second winter special album and forth extended play Sing for You along with double title tracks "Sing for You" and "Unfair". The album broke the record for the highest first week sales for a Korean artist by selling 267,900 copies in its first week. "Unfair" also became the first K-pop song to be featured in the "best of the week" playlist by Apple Music , while Exo became the first Korean artist to be appear on the Apple Music homepage. Part of the profits from the album was reportedly donated to UNICEF's "Smile For U" campaign to support the musical education of children in Asia. Near the end of 2015, prominent South Korean entertainment industry leaders ranked Exo at number 7, the highest of any K-pop artist, in the top ten pop culture leaders of 2015.
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