XOXO

XOXO is the first studio album of the boy band Chinese-South Korean EXO, released on June 3, 2013 by the label S.M. Entertainment. The album is the follow-up to the EP debut of EXO, MAMA (2012). Like all the music from the group, the album was released in two versions - "Kiss" is the Korean edition and "Hug" is the Chinese edition.

Two main singles were released from XOXO: "Wolf" and "Growl", with the latter being the first single from the album of the repackaged version released on August 5, 2013. Both singles went to the list in the top 10 of Gaon Singles Chart, and "Growl" was at number three in Billboard Korea K-Pop Hot 100. The album won "Álbum of the Year" in 2013 Mnet Asian Music Awards and sold about a million copies, becoming the best-selling album in Korea since 2001.

 Background 
The single main album "The Wolf and the Beauty" known in English as simply "Wolf", was composed by Will Simms, Nermin Harambasic by Dsign Music and composer of S.M. Entertainment Kenzie. Kenzie has of the letter for the version Korean of the song while Zhou Weijie wrote the letter for the version in Chinese mandarin, "狼与美女". Yoo Young-jin provides the vocals. The song dance was choreographed by Tony Testa. In various programs such as After School Club of Arirang, members explain that the dance has 3 elements: trees and forests, caves and the Wolf itself. The member Kris revealed that it took about 3 to 4 months to learn the choreography, because of their level of difficulty. A demo version of the song was leaked in February 2013, in response to producer Ryan Jhun later gave a warning to those who download illegally on May 29, 2013: "I'm going to inform of this to the FBI and the Department of service for all those links."

Several tracks in "development" were produced and recorded in 2011 before the official debut of EXO in the entertainment industry, but he never did in his first EP MAMA. Some of these tracks were included on album XOXO, including "Black Pearl" and "My Lady". In July 2013, a repackaged version of XOXO, was renowned as a 으르렁 (Growl) was developed with three tracks additional. Composed by Hyuk Shin (Joombas), DK, Jordan Kyle, John Major, and Jarah Gibson, "Growl" is dance-pop genre with R&B and funk. The single was leaked prematurely online July 27, when a video of the group practiced for the Korean version of the song was uploaded to several sites

 Release and promotion 
On May 30, 2013, the Korean and Chinese versions of the music video of "Wolf" were released, EXO sings the song for the first time in M! Countdown of Mnet. Both versions of the song were released to their download on June 3, 2013 and on the same day, two physical formats of the album XOXO were also released in South Korea: "Kiss" Korean edition and "Hug" in Mandarin edition. After a performance in Inkigayo of SBS on June 3, 2013, EXO visited and thanked 2,000 fansho had been waiting in a nearby park to meet them. The premiere of the Mandarin version of the song was broadcast on a popular Chinese variety show Happy Camp in mid-June.
The album reached more than 300,000 collective order and reached number one on the Billboard Albums Chart a week after the release. From December 2013, the Korean and Chinese versions of the album as well as their respective versions of repackaging, have collectively sold more than 1,070,000 copies, making it the best-selling album of the year in the industry of K-pop. With over 1 million copies sold, XOXO  also the best selling album in twelve years Korea became.

 Tracklist 
 XOXO (original edition) 

 Growl (repackaged edition) 

 Charts 
Chinese and Korean versions
ChartPeak positionsXOXOKiss editionXOXOHug editionGrowlKiss editionGrowlHug editionChina Weekly Sino Chart31South Korea Gaon Weekly Albums Chart1212Japan Oricon Weekly Albums Chart918South Korea Gaon Monthly Albums Chart1212Japan Oricon Monthly Albums Chart1836South Korea Gaon 2013 Yearly Albums Chart3617South Korea Gaon 2014 Yearly Albums Chart53831567

Combined version
ChartPeak positionsChina Sino Chart1Billboard Heatseekers Albums Chart23Billboard World Albums Chart1 Taiwan G-Music's Combo Album Chart6

Sales and shipments

Album sales

XOXO
ChartSalesJapan (Oricon)28,000+ (Hug version)62,000+ (Kiss version)South Korea (Gaon)224,373+ (Hug version)308,298+ (Kiss version)

Growl (Repackage)
ChartSalesSouth Korea (Gaon) 234,764+ (Hug version) 458,306+ (Kiss version)

Release history
 Edition Date Region Format Label CatalogOriginalJune 3, 2013Worldwide / South KoreaCD, digital downloadS.M. Entertainment, KT Music SMK0242 SMK0243July 19, 2013TaiwanAvex AVKCD80280/A AVKCD80280/BJuly 27, 2013PhilippinesUniversal Records SMK0242 SMK0243June 12, 2013ThailandS.M. TrueRepackageAugust 5, 2013Worldwide / South KoreaS.M. Entertainment, KT Music SMK0275 SMK0276September 13, 2013TaiwanAvex Taiwan AVKCD80280/CAVKCD80280/DAugust 16, 2013ThailandS.M. True

 Awards and nominations 

 Year AwardNominated work Category Result2013Golden Disk AwardsGrowlDigital BonsangXOXODisk BonsangDisk DaesangMelOn Music AwardsGrowlSong of the YearMusic Video awardXOXOAlbum of the Year Mnet Asian Music AwardsXOXO BC - UnionPay Album of the Year"2013 M.net Korean Music Festival Winners list" . MAMA. Retrieved June 12, 2014. GrowlBC - UnionPay Song of the YearSeoul Music AwardsRecord of the Year in Digital ReleaseKBS Music FestivalSong of the yearWorld Music AwardsBest World Song

 References 

Category:2013 albums
Category:Exo albums