The K-pop fandom was recently taken by surprise when they observed an unexpected absence in the much-anticipated 2024 SM Season's Greetings lineup. EXO, one of SM Entertainment's most celebrated groups, was not included in the lineup, leading to widespread speculation and concern. This notable absence comes amidst recent contract disputes between the group and their record label.

Earlier in the year, in June, income-related disagreements led three band members of EXO — Baekhyun, Xiumin, and Chen — to issue contract termination notices to SM Entertainment. This generated significant attention as the trio engaged in tense negotiations with the label over the following months. However, fans breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that the trio decided to remain with SM after reportedly resolving their disagreements with the entertainment company.

Adding to the band’s previous issues, reports emerged on October 17 that two more EXO members, Sehun and Chanyeol, were apparently planning to venture into solo careers, aligning with a different agency for their solo careers.

Additionally, SM Entertainment also confirmed that EXO's D.O. will continue his solo activities with a newly established label while he will continue EXO activities with SM Entertainment, just as the other members.

While all SM artists, including TVXQ, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, SHINee, Red Velvet, NCT, WayV, aespa, and even the rookie boy group RIIZE, were included in the Season's Greetings line up, EXO was not in the list.

Korean netizens commented, "If they had a contract with SM, they would have released a seasons greeting, I guess the don't have a contract with them," "I guess they didn't want to take part of the Seasons Greeting," "This proves that their group activities is going to be hard in the future," "I guess we won't be seeing EXO for a long time," "I'm a fan but it's been so long that I haven't bought their Seasons Greeting so it doesn't matter that they're not releasing one this year. Anyway the quality has sucked before," "Oh man," "They are unofficially disbanded at this point," "SM always made EXO's season's greeting bad," and "I think it's better that EXO didn't release because I was always disappointed with the quality of the Seasons Greeting. Only EXO's was made poorly, which pissed me off."