The War

The War (stylized in all caps) is the fourth studio album by South Korean–Chinese boy band Exo. It was released digitally on 18 July 2017 and physically on 19 July 2017 by SM Entertainment under Genie Music's distribution. The album includes a total of nine tracks including the lead single "Ko Ko Bop". The War received the highest number of pre-orders at the time for a K-pop album, with more than 800,000 physical copies. 24 days after being released, it became Exo's fourth consecutive studio album to have sold over a million copies. The album was re-released under the title The War: The Power of Music on 5 September 2017. This was the first Exo release not to feature member Lay, who began an indefinite hiatus shortly before the music video for "Ko Ko Bop" was filmed, and the last album to be separately released in both Korean and Chinese language. Background and release On 15 June 2017, it was confirmed by SM Entertainment that Exo will be releasing a new album sometime in mid-July. On 23 June, SM Entertainment announced that member Lay would be unable to participate in the production and promotion of the album. On 8 July, Exo's official Twitter account was made public, through which SM Entertainment revealed the first teaser video for the album. Also on 8 July, Exo 's official Instagram account opened by posting the three versions of Exo's new album logo. On 10 July, the album's title was announced to be The War.