History
2011: Formation
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.[5] After several member changes,[6] 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.[7]
2012: Debut and Mama
Exo at SM Town Live World Tour III in Singapore in November 2012
Exo-K and Exo-M's prologue single "What Is Love" was released on January 30, 2012, in mainland China and South Korea.[8] The single peaked at number 88 on South Korea's Gaon Single Chart. On March 9, the group released their second prologue single "History",[9] 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.[10]
A concert for the group was held in Seoul's Olympic Stadium on March 31.[11] Approximately 3,000 fans from 8,000 applicants were selected to attend.[12] A second concert was held in the Great Hall of the Beijing University of International Business and Economics on April 1.[13]
Exo-K and Exo-M released their debut single, "Mama", on April 8[14] followed by an EP Mama, on April 9. The two sub-groups would be promoting the album separately in two countries. 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.[15] The mandarin version of Mama reached number two on China's Sina Album Chart, while the Korean album peaked at number one on the Gaon Album Chart[16] and number eight on the Billboard World Albums Chart.[17] The mandarin version of "Mama" music video reached number one on Chinese streaming websites, while the Korean version reached number seven on YouTube's Global Chart.[18] In late April, Exo-M performed as a guest act for Super Junior's Super Show 4 concert tour in Jakarta, Indonesia.
In November, Exo won Best New Asian Artist Group at the 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards. Exo-K received three nominations at the 27th Golden Disc Awards, winning the Newcomer Award. Exo-M received the Most Popular Group Award at the 2013 Top Chinese Music Awards.[19]
2013: XOXO, commercial success, and Miracles in December
Exo with South Korean President, Park Geun-hye in China on June 28, 2013
The group's first studio album, XOXO was released on June 3, 2013 with two versions, a Korean-language and a Mandarin-language edition.[20] Unlike Mama era when Exo-K and Exo-M had separate promotions, XOXO was jointly promoted; mainly in South Korea.[21] Exo recorded together for the album's lead single, "Wolf", but the rest of the album tracks were recorded separately.[22] The two versions collectively peaked at number one on the Billboard World Album Chart a week after release.[23]
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.[24] "Growl" peaked at number three on Billboard'sKorea K-Pop Hot 100[25] and number two on the Gaon's Singles chart. As of December 2013, all versions of XOXO have collectively sold over one million 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.[26]XOXO was named Album of the Year at the 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards.[27]XOXO is the best selling album in South Korea of 2013, winning the Disk Daesang Award at various award ceremonies like the Golden Disc Awards.[28]
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.[29] 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.[30]
