Ex'Act

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", 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. This 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 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. "Lotto" was deemed "unfit for broadcast" by KBS, MBC and Mnet, thus was promoted with modified lyrics under the alternative title "Louder" on these TV channels.

Singles

"Monster" and "Lucky One" peaked at number one and three respectively on the Billboard World Digital Songs chart, and at number one and five respectively on the Gaon 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

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 with over 450,000 physical copies sold, breaking the record previously held by EXO themselves' fourth extended play Sing for You. The Korean and Chinese versions of the album debuted at number one and two respectively on the Gaon weekly album chart. Both versions combined, the album debuted and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard World Albums chart.

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 and become the third consecutive studio album by Exo to have sold over 1 million copies.