''Ex'Act'' (stylized in
all caps
In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...
) is the third
studio album by South Korean–Chinese boy band
Exo. It was released by
SM Entertainment in
Korean
Korean may refer to:
People and culture
* Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula
* Korean cuisine
* Korean culture
* Korean language
**Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl
**Korean dialects and the Jeju language
** ...
and
Chinese versions on June 9, 2016. The album was re-released under the title ''Lotto'' on August 18, 2016. ''Ex'Act'' is the third consecutive studio album by Exo to have sold over 1 million copies, and their fourth album to have won the
Mnet Asian Music Award for Album of the Year.
Background and release
On May 31, 2016, Exo was announced to be releasing their third studio album.
On June 2, it was revealed that the album's title was ''Ex'Act'' and Exo would be simultaneously promoting two singles, "
Lucky One" and "
Monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
", with different visual concepts that correspond with the two versions of physical packagings for the album.
On June 7, 2016, it was revealed that notable music producers including
Kenzie,
The Stereotypes, and
Dem Jointz participated in the production of the album, and member
Chanyeol co-wrote the lyrics for the track "Heaven". ''Ex'Act'' and the music videos for its singles were released on June 9.
A re-packaged edition of the album, titled ''Lotto'', was released on August 18, 2016. The edition adds four new songs including "
Lotto", "Can't Bring Me Down", "She's Dreaming" which was written by member
Chen, and a remix of "Monster" by
LDN Noise.
Promotion
A promotional showcase for ''Ex'Act'' was held at
Olympic Hall,
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...
on June 8, 2016. Exo began performing the album's singles on South Korean music television programs on June 9. They embarked on their third headlining concert tour
The Exo'rdium in July 2016.
Exo began promoting the repackaged edition ''Lotto'' by performing the title track on South Korean music television programs on August 19. Member
Kai was absent from promotional activities due to an injury he sustained during the concert tour.
KBS,
MBC, and
Mnet deemed "Lotto" "unfit for broadcast", thus Exo promoted the song with modified lyrics under an alternative title, "Louder", on these TV channels.
Singles
"
Monster
A monster is a type of fictional creature found in horror, fantasy, science fiction, folklore, mythology and religion. Monsters are very often depicted as dangerous and aggressive with a strange, grotesque appearance that causes terror and fe ...
" and "
Lucky One" peaked at number one and three respectively on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
World Digital Songs chart,
and at number one and five respectively on the
Gaon
Gaon may refer to
* Gaon (Hebrew), a non-formal title given to certain Jewish Rabbis
** Geonim, presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita
** Vilna Gaon, known as ''the'' Gaon of Vilnius.
* Gaon Music Chart
The Circl ...
weekly digital chart. "Monster" went on to win first place nine times in total on South Korean weekly music television shows.
"
Lotto" debuted at number two on the Gaon weekly digital chart and at number one on the ''Billboard'' World Digital Songs chart. The song went on to win first place seven times in total on South Korean weekly music television shows.
Commercial performance
''Ex'Act''
Prior to its release, ''Ex'Act'' received a record-breaking pre-order by retail outlets of over 660,000 physical copies. Three days after its release, the album became the fastest selling album in the history of South Korean album sales chart Hanteo at the time with over 450,000 physical copies sold, breaking the record previously held by Exo's fourth extended play ''
Sing for You'' (2015).
The Korean and Chinese versions of the album debuted at number one and two respectively on the
Gaon
Gaon may refer to
* Gaon (Hebrew), a non-formal title given to certain Jewish Rabbis
** Geonim, presidents of the two great Talmudic Academies of Sura and Pumbedita
** Vilna Gaon, known as ''the'' Gaon of Vilnius.
* Gaon Music Chart
The Circl ...
weekly album chart.
Both versions combined, the album debuted and peaked at number 2 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''
World Albums
The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...
chart.
On October 22, 2017, the Korean Music Copyright Association revealed that "Monster" was the most streamed song of 2016 on two major South Korean music sites, Melon and Genie. It accumulated 190,898,389 and 36,688,492 million streams on each platform respectively, making Exo the most streamed group of 2016.
''Lotto''
The Korean and Chinese versions of ''Lotto'' debuted at number one and two respectively on the Gaon weekly album chart.
By the end of August 2016, ''Ex'Act'' had collectively sold 1,136,104 copies, becoming the third consecutive studio album by Exo to have sold over 1 million copies.
Accolades
Track listing
Credits adapted from
Naver
Naver (Hangul: 네이버) is a South Korean online platform operated by the Naver Corporation. It was launched in 1999 as the first web portal in South Korea to develop and use its own search engine. It was also the world's first operator to i ...
.
Charts
Korean and Chinese versions
Combined versions
Sales
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2016 albums
Exo albums
Korean-language albums
Mandarin-language albums
SM Entertainment albums
Genie Music albums
Grand Prize Golden Disc Award-winning albums
Albums produced by LDN Noise