Girls' Generation's Hyoyeon Slammed For Mistake Involving EXO And NCT DREAM, Releases Apology

Girls’ Generation‘s Hyoyeon was recently criticized for a mistake involving EXO‘s stats.

241030-HYOYEON-at-The-MaxMara-Jacket-Circle-Photo-Call-documents-3(2) — GIrls’ Generation’s Hyoyeon

On November 6, Hyoyeon hosted NCT DREAM on her YouTube program Hyo’s Level Up ahead of their upcoming comeback.

241029-Hyo-IG-Update-with-NCT-Jeno-Haechan-Jisung-Bapsa-Hyo-Episode-16-Preview-documents-1 — (left to right) NCT’s Haechan, Hyoyeon, NCT’s Jisung and Jeno. | *@hyo_levelup/Instagram*

In a portion of the video, Hyohyeon says that NCT DREAM was “SM’s First Million Seller.” She also added that they are double—and triple-million sellers.

And while NCT DREAM have made huge achievements with their album sales, her statements were not entirely correct, which was quickly pointed out in the video’s comments.

The title of “SM’s First Million Seller ” actually belongs to EXO. The group achieved 1 million sales overall with the release of XOXO, and its repackage in 2013, and SM Entertainment announced the feat at the time.

Congratulations! #EXO set the record for selling 1,000,000 copies of their first album, 《XOXO (Kiss&Hug)》. pic.twitter.com/foLc2muK6l

— SMTOWN (@SMTOWNGLOBAL) December 27, 2013

Fans of EXO also took complaints to X, where they also accused SM Entertainment of attempting to “erase history.”

EXO is SM ENTERTAINMENT:

FIRST MILLION SELLER 2013
DOUBLE MILLION SELLER 2015
TRIPLE MILLION SELLER 2016
QUADRUPLE MILLION SELLER 2017
QUINTUPLE MILLION SELLER 2018
SEXTUPLE MILLION SELLER 2021

DON'T ERASE KPOP HISTORY@SMTOWNGLOBAL @weareoneEXO https://t.co/J9AqvWhkAd

— EXO Charts (@exochartstats) November 6, 2024

EXO didnt break a 12 year old record for them to be disrespected like that, they were the first group to sell 1M, 2M, 3M, 4M, and 5M albums, they were the first Kpop group to achieve over 10 million cumulative album sales, so have some shame!! pic.twitter.com/WxlmlypcfN

— aya (@hyunyun614) November 6, 2024

EXO was the only Kpop artist to sell 1 million albums in the active industry in 2013 and were the only ones until 2017 to sell 1 million albums through comebacks. It's extremely fcked up to deny/rewrite history like that! Fck them all https://t.co/vcOoP1YfaE

— ℓ the witch (@letmechanging) November 6, 2024

NCT DREAM were the first SM artists to achieve a million sales during the first week of release, and did so with their first full album Hot Sauce. Their achievements for double and triple million seller were also set during the first week.

NCT DREAM 첫 정규 앨범 '맛 (Hot Sauce)' 단체 티저 이미지 1 (1) — NCT DREAM | *SM Entertainment*

In response to the criticism, the YouTube channel commented a correction on the clip, adding the distinction and changing the subtitles, though the clip’s original hard translation has remained the same.