Ex'Act
studio
ArtistExo
CoverEXO EXACT cover.jpg
ReleasedJune 9, 2016
Recorded2016
Studio
  • Doobdoob (Seoul)
  • In Grid (Seoul)
  • MonoTree (Seoul)
  • SM Big Shot (Seoul)
  • SM Blue Cup (Seoul)
  • SM Yellow Tail (seoul)
  • Sound Pool (Seoul)
Genre
Length
(Lotto repackage)
LanguageKorean · Mandarin · English
Label
Producer
Prev year2015
Next year2016

Ex'Act (stylized in all caps) is the third studio album by South Korean boy band Exo. It was released by SM Entertainment in Korean and Chinese versions on June 9, 2016. The album was re-released under the title Lotto on August 18, 2016. Ex'Act became Exo's fourth consecutive album to have won the MAMA Award for Album of the Year. The album went on to sell over 830,000 copies by 2022, with its repackage Lotto selling over 410,000 copies.

Background and release

On May 31, 2016, Exo was announced to be releasing their third studio album.[2] 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", with different visual concepts that correspond with the two versions of physical packagings for the album.[3]

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".[4] 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.[5]

Promotion

A promotional showcase for Ex'Act was held at Olympic Hall, Seoul on June 8, 2016.[6] Exo began performing the album's singles on South Korean music television programs on June 9.[7] They embarked on their third headlining concert tour The Exo'rdium in July 2016.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10]

Singles

"Monster" and "Lucky One" peaked at number one and three respectively on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart,[11] and at number one and five respectively on the Gaon weekly digital chart.[12] "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[13] and at number one on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart.[14] 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.[15] 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).[16]

The Korean and Chinese versions of the album debuted at number one and two respectively on the Gaon weekly album chart.[17] Both versions combined, the album debuted and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard World Albums chart.[11] 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.[18]

Lotto

The Korean and Chinese versions of Lotto debuted at number one and two respectively on the Gaon weekly album chart.[19] By the end of August 2016, Ex'Act and its repackage had collectively sold 1,136,104 copies.[20]

Accolades

Awards and nominations
YearAwardNominated workCategoryResult
2016Melon Music AwardsEx'ActAlbum of the Year
Mnet Asian Music AwardsAlbum of the Year
2017Gaon Chart Music AwardsEx'Act (Korean ver.)Album of the Year – 2nd Quarter
Ex'Act (Chinese ver.)
Lotto (Korean ver.)Album of the Year – 3rd Quarter
Lotto (Chinese ver.)
Golden Disc AwardsEx'ActAlbum Bonsang
Album Daesang

Charts

Korean and Chinese versions

ChartPeak position
Ex'ActLotto
Korean
version		Chinese
version		Korean
version		Chinese
version
French Digital Albums (SNEP)[21]165———
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[22]816——
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[17][19]1212

Combined versions

ChartPeak
position
US World Albums (Billboard)[11]2

Sales

CountrySales
Ex'ActLotto
Korean
version		Chinese
version		Korean
version		Chinese
version
South Korea (Gaon)[23]551,750248,325244,502120,238
Japan (Oricon)[24]24,6797,210——

Release history

Release history for Ex'Act
RegionDateEditionFormatLabelRef
South KoreaJune 9, 2016Ex'ActCD · digital download · streamingSM · KT–
VariousDigital download · streamingSM–
TaiwanJuly 29, 2016CDAvex Taiwan[25]
South KoreaAugust 18, 2016LottoCD · digital download · streamingSM · KT–
VariousDigital download · streamingSM–
TaiwanSeptember 30, 2016CDAvex Taiwan[26]

References

  1. ^ "초특급 글로벌 대세 엑소, 정규 3집 앨범 EX'ACT 9일 발매 '가요계 평정 예고'" [EXO, a super-special global trend, will release their 3rd studio album EX'ACT on the 9th, 'Prediction of a Calm in the Music Industry'] (in Korean). Sports Seoul. June 7, 2016. Retrieved June 23, 2024. – via Naver
  2. ^ Lee Eun-jung (May 31, 2016). "엑소, 6월 정규 3집으로 컴백…대규모 쇼케이스" (in Korean). Yonhap News Agency. Archived September 21, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  3. ^ "엑소 "이번엔 더블 타이틀곡" …'Monster' 'Lucky One'으로 매력 어필" (in Korean). DongA. June 2, 2016. Archived June 3, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 3, 2016.
  4. ^ Jo Hyun-joo (June 7, 2016). "'글로벌 대세' 엑소, 이번에도 가요계 평정 예고" (in Korean). Tenasia. Archived from the original on June 7, 2016. Retrieved June 7, 2016.
  5. ^ Shim Jae-gyeol (August 13, 2016). "엑소, '로또'로 대기록 도전" (in Korean). The Korea Times. Archived August 15, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  6. ^ Yoon Sang-geun (May 8, 2016). "대세의 귀환..엑소 컴백 쇼케이스 "세젤슈! 핵대박!"" (in Korean). Star News. Archived August 9, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  7. ^ Kim Soo-min (May 9, 2016). "'엠카' 엑소, 방송 최초 컴백 무대 예고…더블 타이틀 선보인다" (in Korean). Sports Korea. Archived June 11, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  8. ^ "엑소, 7월 단독 콘서트 개최" (in Korean). Seoul Today. June 14, 2016. Archived September 27, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  9. ^ Jung Ji-won (August 17, 2016). "엑소 카이, 리패키지 활동서 못본다…"부상 회복 전념"" (in Korean). Xsports News. Archived August 26, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  10. ^ Moon Wan-sik (August 17, 2016). "엑소, KBS·MBC→'라우더' SBS '로또'로 활동" (in Korean). Star News. Archived August 27, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  11. ^ Benjamin, Jeff (June 14, 2016). "EXO Earns First No. 1 on World Digital Songs With 'Monster'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived June 16, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  12. ^ "Gaon Digital Chart, Week 24, 2015" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived from the original on July 2, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  13. ^ "Gaon Digital Chart, Week 34, 2015" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived August 29, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  14. ^ Benjamin, Jeff (September 6, 2016). "EXO Scores Second No. 1 on World Digital Songs With 'Lotto'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Archived November 21, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved September 8, 2016.
  15. ^ Jung Ji-won (June 8, 2016). "엑소 신드롬의 시작…음반 선주문량 66만장 돌파" (in Korean). Xsports News. Archived August 6, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 8, 2016.
  16. ^ Lee Da-hye (June 12, 2016). ""엑소, 엑소를 넘었다" 정규 3집 앨범 '이그잭트', 발매 3일만의 역대 초동 1위 기록" (in Korean). Asia Today. Archived June 29, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  17. ^ "Gaon Album Chart, Week 24, 2015" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived August 6, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  18. ^ Kim, Hyoung-gu (October 22, 2017). "ko:[단독]'걱정말아요 그대' 2위, 작년 노래방 애창곡 1위는" (in Korean). JoongAng Ilbo. JoongAng Media Network. Archived July 19, 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 19, 2019.
  19. ^ "Gaon Album Chart, Week 34, 2015" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Korea Music Content Industry Association. Archived August 29, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved August 28, 2016.
  20. ^ "Gaon Album Chart, September 2016" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Archived February 3, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved October 8, 2016.
  21. ^ Charted versions: *"French Album Charts – Week 23, 2016". June 10, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
  22. ^ "Oricon Weekly CD Albums Chart – June 20, 2016" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived August 9, 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  23. ^ "Gaon Album Chart - 2016" (in Korean). Gaon Chart. Archived September 23, 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
  24. ^ "オリコン月間 CDアルバムランキング 2015年12月度" (in Japanese). Oricon. Archived 2016-06-30 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  25. ^ "zh:第三張正規專輯 EX'ACT 中文版 (Lucky One ver.) /台壓版" [The third full-length album "EX'ACT" Chinese version (Lucky One ver.) / Taiwan press version] (in Chinese). Avex Taiwan. July 29, 2016. Archived February 22, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 22, 2025.
  26. ^ "zh:第三張正規改版專輯 LOTTO 中文版 / 台壓版" [The third officially revised album "LOTTO" Chinese version / Taiwan press version] (in Chinese). Avex Taiwan. September 30, 2016. Archived August 8, 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved February 22, 2016.