Nine-member K-POP group EXO has shown global domination through the release of their new album, ‘The War,’ which is topping the charts across the continents, including the U.S.

Although only promoting with eight members on their fourth, full-length album released on July 19th, their devoted fans have stepped up to the plate to bring the group to new heights. With nine tracks in total, Exo’s new album has amassed an overwhelmingly positive response, as displayed through their impressive album sales.

The album was produced both in Korean and Chinese to reach a greater number of fans through the dual languages.

Concerning genre, Exo shows their unique musicality with tracks inspired by reggae, hip-hop, R&B, and even disco, appealing to music-lovers across genres. Their success is only emphasized with their new title as Apple Music's 'Best of Week.'

Breaking records

According to news outlet SBS, Exo had broken the previous pre-order record held by a K-POP group of 660,000 copies, with an incredible 807,235 copies of "The War" sold before it had even been released. What is even more inspiring is that Exo themselves had held the current record with their third studio-album “EX’ACT.” Not only has Exo surpassed K-POP legends in sales, but they have proven their consistency and loyalty through their remarkable pre order numbers.

On July 23, 2017, Exo had proven themselves to an even greater extent by gaining international acclaim. Exo’s record label S.M. Entertainment had tweeted out on their official twitter account @SMGLOBAL that “…‘#theWar' has topped South Korea’s weekly albums charts and is selected as the U.S. Apple Music ‘Best of the Week.’” Not only is Exo excelling on home turf, but their album is the recipient of universal love.

Apple’s streaming service has christened ‘The War’ among the best along with well-known global artists. Exo has established that they are not only a leading force in the K-POP industry but music as a whole.

The power of social media

Exo has employed a new and efficient strategy to promote their new album with winning results.

The group had launched official Twitter and Instagram accounts, @weareoneEXO and #weareone.exo respectively, to promote “The War” in a new and innovative way. Before the album had been released, first teasers were released twice a day on both platforms. First, a teaser video featuring one of the members and an unreleased clip of one of the tracks on the album would be posted on the group’s Twitter account.

Later in the day, images of that member would be posted to the group’s Instagram account to display the artistic concepts behind the album. Once they had cycled through each member, final and group teasers were released to promote the group’s single titled, “Ko Ko Bop.” The anticipatory nature of this promotional strategy heightened excitement for the album and gave fans a taste of what the full album would entail.

The music video for “Ko Ko Bop” currently has over 20 million views in under a week. According to the video’s description “To show our gratefulness for the love you’ve given to ‘Ko Ko Bop,' we prepared a special event!

When the YouTube MV for ‘Ko Ko Bop’ (Korean Ver.) hits 30 million views, we will reveal EXO’s special video as well as a special event, so stay tuned!” Fans are eagerly awaiting the special video to be released once the “Ko Ko Bop” music video reaches their 30 million milestones. Additionally, album sales continue to rise, and Exo gains more fans each day with their diverse style and unmatchable energy.