The end of the year countdowns are here! We’re kicking things off with the big one… the top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday.
To be eligible for this top 50 list, songs must have had a Korean release as a title or promotional track between Dec. 1st, 2016 and Nov. 30th, 2017.
Make sure to check out the rest of the countdown first!
Day One: 50-41
Day Two: 40-31
30. KARD – Oh NaNa
Kicking off one of the year’s most exciting debuts all the way back in December, Oh NaNa perfected the tropical trend just before the market began to feel over-saturated, reigniting the idea of a co-ed group in the process. (full review)
29. Seventeen – Boom Boom
Boom Boom is Seventeen doing what they do best. No frills, no experimentation — just a no-holds-barred funk pop workout that takes full advantage of the group’s unending supply of skills and personality. (full review)
28. BTS – Not Today
Following up where Dope and Fire left off, Not Today is yet another explosion of hype-inducing intensity from BTS, invoking a call-to-arms battle cry to their Army and beyond. (full review)
27. EXO – Ko Ko Bop
Ko Ko Bop marked a hard right turn for EXO, blending its laid-back reggae pop verses with a noisy EDM chorus. It felt disorienting and messy at first, but soon blossomed into one of 2017’s most long-lasting hits. (full review)
26. NCT 127 – Limitless
Opening the year with an experimental hip-hop sound, Limitless hinted at even more potential within SM’s most ambitious project. It’s a sound NCT struggled to build upon for most of 2017, but remains the peak of the 127 unit’s output. (full review)
25. Bobby – I Love You
Though iKON failed to make much of an impact this year in Korea, its most well-known member finally got to release his solo. And just as the tropical trend was waning, I Love You proved that a dynamite, feel-good chorus can reignite even the stalest of genres. (full review)
24. Pentagon – Like This
After huge success as a songwriter, Pentagon’s leader Hui co-composed their most impressive title track yet. Like This unfolds as a fully realized narrative, climaxing in the year’s best melodramatic bridge. (full review)
23. Teen Top – Love Is
Rebounding after the loss of a member, Teen Top enlisted mega-producer Brave Brothers for their best single in years. Propelled by a gargantuan synth beat, the track spins off energy as it races towards its laser-show of a hook. (full review)
22. Astro – Baby
Most listeners seemed to prefer the mature sounds of Crazy Sexy Cool, but Baby set the stage for Astro’s strongest album yet, sharpening their youthful appeal with a bright, percolating electro beat that builds to an impressive, guitar-laced climax. (full review)
21. EXO – Power
EXO’s brand of big budget pop can sometimes come across as overly serious, but Power‘s anthemic electro surge blows that to smithereens, building on k-pop’s inherent silliness with a stadium-sized melody that’s not afraid to embrace its own overblown ridiculousness. (full review)
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Is this ranking of Ko Ko Bop just a reflection of how much impact it had, or did it really grow on you as well? I recall you weren’t very fond of it in your initial review and even in your Risers and Fallers list I don’t think you explicitly mentioned that you yourself were enjoying it more (although I suppose that would be the implication, haha).
When Crazy Sexy Cool dropped I actually recall seeing a good amount of Arohas who weren’t big fans of it and wanted Astro to stick with a brighter sound. I’m sure it did grow on quite a few people but I have to wonder how many actually preferred it to Baby.
Love Is was so underrated and slept on. 😦 But so is Teen Top as a whole, in the year 2017. Sigh.
(Also one extra note, you wrote “bug budget” on the Power blurb, just fyi 😛 )
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Ugh! Thanks for the catch.
Ko Ko Bop grew on me immensely. The fact that it was part of a very strong album helped, but I think my hesitance back in July was another case of expectations vs. reality. It was a new sound for them, but I wanted something more in line with their older material. Once that expectation wore off, I was able to appreciate it for what it was.
With Astro, Baby and CSC were actually pretty close for me. But Baby was (again) part of such a strong album, and really soundtracked a lot of my spring and summer, that I had to give it the edge.
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