Korean boy band EXO entered multiple charts on Billboard with their new album "The War." EXO made their best showing yet when the album debuted at No. 87 on the Billboard 200 by selling 7,000 copies including 5,000 traditional album sales as of July 20 in the US based on Nielsen Music data.
"This is EXO's best Billboard 200 position as the group previously sent their 2015 Exodus album to No. 95, after selling 6,000 traditional copies," wrote Billboard.com, explaining the Billboard 200 is "based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA)."
With the ranking, EXO joins K-pop artists BTS, Big Bang, G-Dragon who have multiple entries in the Billboard 200 chart.
"The War" was released on July 18 that contains the title track "Ko Ko Bop." The album generated pre-orders of 800,000 to indicate that EXO will again be a "million seller."
On Billboard's World Albums chart, "The War" debuted at No. 1 followed by K-pop singers K.A.R.D at No. 3, Jessi at No. 4, G-Dragon at No. 5, Red Velvet at No. 10, Zico at No. 11, Jung Yong Hwa at No. 12 and BTS at No. 13.
"The War" also debuted at No. 3 on Billboard's Independent Albums, No. 28 on Top Current Albums, No. 10 on Digital Albums, No. 76 on Canadian Albums and No. 34 on Top Album Sales.
The title track "Ko Ko Bop" debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's World Digital Song Sales while "The Eve" placed eight and "Forever" charted at No. 24 on the same chart.
"After five years of ruling the K-pop scene, EXO could have easily rolled out the summer single 'Ko Ko Bop' to outshine their new material with its deliciously seasonal electo-reggae sound. But the high performance of The War truly indicates how this LP is a fully realized, electro-pop tour de force," wrote Billboard of the album.
It added that the chorus in "What U Do?" is at par with some of EXO's past songs while "The Eve" is comparable to former EXO album introductions, Billboard said.
"Highlights include the guys pleading for commitment on the aggressive glitch-pop in 'Forever,' getting sensual over electro-funk on "Touch It" and mixing bitter heartbreak with icy synthesizers on 'Going Crazy.' Notably, The War marks the largest songwriting contribution from its members yet, indicating that the act has a lot more area to explore (and conquer) before getting anywhere near complacent," Billboard added.
