I think it’s obvious that I love a good statistic. In addition to my core rating system, I’ve got my top three songs of each month, my yearly countdowns and more data breakdowns than anyone could ask for. None of these are perfect ways to categorize or quantify something as subjective as music, but they help me organize my thoughts.
So, I thought I’d tackle a big project and figure out — once and for all — which K-pop artists reign supreme on this site. I know my personal favorite acts, but what does the actual data say?
Spurred by this question, I decided to average my ratings for every K-pop artist with five or more reviews on The Bias List. B-sides and Japanese releases aren’t factored into the average. And of course, this only includes releases from 2016 onward, so some old favorites aren’t even eligible.
Which artists have been most consistently excellent during this new generation of K-pop? I’ve ranked the top ten (there were a lot of ties!), but I’ve also included the rest in case you’re curious. There were certainly some surprises!
Acts who didn’t make the top ten:
Average Rating 6.5:
IOI
Average Rating 6.8:
Yesung
Average Rating 6.9:
Crush / EXO-SC / Zico
Average Rating 7.0:
Baekhyun / CLC / DIA / Jessi
Average Rating 7.2:
Heize / MXM
Average Rating 7.3:
Apink / BTOB / Hyoyeon / HyunA / Kang Daniel / MCND / Momoland / Nu’est / Sechs Kies /
Average Rating 7.4:
Ailee / BVNDIT / D-CRUNCH / Eric Nam / KNK / Victon / Wanna One
Average Rating 7.5:
Chungha / Gugudan / Hyolyn / IZ / KARD / VAV / Weki Meki
Average Rating 7.6:
AB6IX / CRAVITY / GOT7 / JBJ95 / Winner / Yubin / 100%
Average Rating 7.7:
Berry Good / Block B / DAY6 / EXID / GWSN / Ha Sungwoon / IN2IT / IZ*ONE / Laboum / Mamamoo / N.Flying / Seven O’Clock / Taeyeon / UP10TION / 3YE
Average Rating 7.8:
BoA / Brave Girls / Cherry Bullet / Cosmic Girls (WJSN) / IU / Jeong Sewoon / LOONA
Average Rating 7.9:
BLACKPINK / fromis_9 / (G)I-DLE / IMFACT / Pentagon / SF9 / Stray Kids / VERIVERY
10. The East Light / Highlight / iKON / KEEMBO / Lee Hi / ONEUS / Red Velvet / Super Junior
Average rating: 8.0
9. A.C.E / AOA / B.A.P / The Boyz / Everglow / Great Guys / NCT 127 / OnlyOneOf / Teen Top / Twice
Average rating: 8.1
8. EXO / ITZY / Taemin / VIXX
Average rating: 8.2
7. AKMU / ATEEZ / Dongkiz / Dreamcatcher / Lovelyz / Monsta X / NCT Dream / NCT U / Snuper / Sunmi / TST
Average rating: 8.3
6. Astro / GFriend / Oh My Girl / TXT
Average rating: 8.4
5. BTS
Average rating: 8.5
4. Seventeen / SuperM
Average rating: 8.6
3. ONF
Average rating: 8.7
2. Golden Child
Average rating: 8.8
1. SHINee
Average rating: 9
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
SuperM and SHINee among the top, yes
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my jaw actually dropped seeing monsta x at #7?! when i didn’t see them in the list of artists who didn’t make the top 10 i figured “LOL, it is what it is” so to see them on the list after all blew my mind 😅 gambler must have helped a lot hahaha. superM at #4 was a delight as well as was SHINee at #1… yes! just yes!
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Yeah, sometimes I think I like Monsta X less than I actually do. Most of their lowest-rated tracks on this blog have been Japanese. Their Korean titles are pretty consistently lodged in the 8’s (with a couple 9’s).
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Nick my guy you got to listen to this
It’s a song by capsule is a Japanese electronica band they released about 2 weeks ago i think?
God this is everything you’ll like in a song
First off it’s a disco/synthpop track
1- Bold intro and production
2- bright synthesizer
3- punchy beats
4- a strong chorus cool vocal leads
I hope I’m asking too much just wanted to hear your thoughts and opinions on it
And probably end on your favourite jpop track from this year.
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Challenge accepted!
I’m not sure it’s *everything* I love in a song, but it’s very good and I’m adding it to my playlist! Thanks for the recommendation.
It’s been a long while since I’ve listened to Capsule (since World Of Fantasy, I think…), but this is a strong single from them.
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Your welcome I’m glad you enjoyed it ♥️✌🏼
I have question what’s your favourite j-pop release so far?
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Snuper, Dongkiz, and TST for the win.
Even if they are tied 11 times for 7th place, they have won.
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The little engine that could, right?!?
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I am legit kind of irritated that I discovered Dongkiz from reading this site, because they’re great and I don’t find cheering for underdogs as rewarding as much of the kpop fan community seems to. My enormous fondness for Vanner’s later stuff is bad enough.
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Also, I thought TST was a typo at first and I refuse to look them up, so there. 😀
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Oh my goodness! TST “Wake Up” is the most happiest clappiest guilty pleasure song of mine of all time.
Darling daughter is partial to Mind Control, being a teenager now, something something about school or something, but as she is not here right now, I will paste my favorite and not hers.
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Second this. Still a favourite of mine. Sometimes our tastes align specifically and unexpectedly!
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One of the first things I read on this site was your ranking of the best kpop songs of all time so I fully expected Infinite to be at the top of the list, I should have read your criteria properly at the start because I was getting progressively more befuddled lol. I’ve just realised that Infinite don’t really have as many group releases in this time period, which is a shame – I discovered them late, but their music is definitely great.
It’s nice to see Seventeen so high! They’re my favourite group and I’m certainly biased but I do think they’ve crafted a really strong and memorable discography over the years. ONF have also recently been a new discovery for me, I’m really liking their music so far and how intriguing that cohesive ONF sound is.
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There’s just something so right about ATEEZ and Dreamcatcher having the same batting average, haha. Though it strikes me that Dreamcatcher are just really consistent, while ATEEZ have some really high highs and some low lows. (That said, did you adjust this for the Legendary Song inaugurations? I’m guessing not. Because if not ATEEZ would score higher.)
And wow A.C.E would’ve scored higher if Savage hadn’t sunk them so hard. Oof.
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It’s based only on initial ratings. This makes it imperfect, but if I opened up the can of worms to include adjusted ratings, I’d be here all day! Haha
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I came into this expecting Stray Kids near the top and Vixx in the bottom and boy was I pleasantly surprised.
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For once I couldn’t agree more – SHINee for the win! And even Taemin as a soloist is still in the top 10!
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ONF 3rd wow :00 I’m pleasantly surprised
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Let’s go SHINee!
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Shinee being the only group to crack the 9’s is super satisfying.
WJSN and Stray Kids were both lower than I would have guessed.
SuperM was much higher than I would have guessed.
Vixx Oh how I miss them.
I’m super curious how Wayv would have ranked but they are chinese and probably dont have enough title tracks yet. Oh well their singles run from take off to moonwalk to turn back time remains my favorite among NCT’s discography.
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I think we were all expecting SHINee to be at the top hahaha deserved!
Also, I didn’t expect to see ITZY at 8th when gg like RV and Twice (which I have seen more frequently with higher ratings) were in lower positions. Pretty interesting to think about 🙂
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Chalk it up to Red Velvet and Twice having far, far more singles to soften their average. Let’s check back in ITZY in two or three years 😉
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Curious if we scrap Taemin’s last two release how will he fare on this list
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GFRIEND AND OH MY GIRL BEING THE TOP GIRLGROUPS HERE!
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Unless I’m mathing wrong, if GHOST9’s next CB scores an 8.5 or higher, they’ll be in the top 5 (not accounting for other scores changing, of course). That’s pretty impressive for a group that’s been around less than a year.
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Wow, you’re right!
Of course, to be fair there are a few rookies who would’ve been higher on this list if I only counted their first year. VERIVERY and Astro come to mind immediately, but I’m sure there are others as well. Still… impressive for GHOST9!
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Did either of them have five title releases in their first year, though? I really don’t understand the economics of kpop but I can’t for the life of me figure out how a small company finances four EPs in nine months. It’s not like their MVs look cheap, either!
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I think Nick doesn’t mean their actual “first year”, More like their first five releases. If that so, we could have seen Astro right up at the Top Three! SEVENTEEN’s First Five reviews in this site culminated with an impressive “9” rating. Snuper’s first Five reviews in this site were nothing but praise, And they would have tied with SEVENTEEN. Golden Child’s First Five reviews would have also tied with…Astro.
But If we are talking about who would Top This Entire List by their First Five Reviews…Then BTS would be an obvious choice. I calculated their average and it turns out, They had the average of “9.2” before dipping down a bit, The perfection of those first few releases just shows how incredible they were in STILL keeping BTS up within the Top Five.
I think these are the five best examples of Artists who could have ranked really high if we accounted for their first five releases. I don’t Think GHOST9 live up to them, But they are pretty darn close.
Wait, why did I do this?
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Hey, he made the rules, not me! Anyhow, I love that you fell down that rabbit hole. I fell down a brief one trying to find a group with 5 qualifying releases in their first 12 months – Stray Kids were actually pretty close but missed it by a couple of months, and that’s where I gave up.
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GHOST9’s Management are playing this incredibly smart honestly. Unlike most agencies, They understood that GHOST9 was going to be unknown from the start. So they swung with everything they got and made sure that the guys released a lot in these months. Even though the guys aren’t world-conquerors or in K-pop’s A-List, It helped ease out the edges and rough sides by a lot!
You Know, talking about debut-year releases…what…happened…to CRAXY?
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Where did Craxy disappear to? Their “Aria” song was crazy bonkers, in a good way. *sigh*
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Blew all the budget on that mv, methinks…
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Imagine being Taemin, three time in TOP 10, as solo artist, SuperM and SHINee
That’s legendary
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YES! YES! I knew you would do something like this, When you said that it involves a lot of math and that Bias List geeks would love it, I thought of you calculating the scores from each artist ever since this blog started in 2016.
Putting that aside, I am certainly surprised by a few choices here. Blackpink right at 11th place? KEEMBO at 10th? Everglow? The Boyz? ONLYONEOF?!
Don’t get me wrong, I love each and every one of these artists to some extent and I know so do you Nick, But these were acts which kind of felt insignificant when paired with big heavy-hitters and large shadows such as “Stray Kids”, “VERIVERY”, “SF9” and “Nu’est”!
But While I do have a few qualms for 10th place, The rest of the top ten are nothing short of perfect! I especially love the TOP THREE…SHINee, Golden Child and ONF deserve all the praises in the world for supplying us such incredible music in this generation of K-pop. And The Fact, All of them combined their powers to keep us fed throughout the first four months of 2021..is…just…SO BEAUTIFUL (beautiful)!
Honestly, I am really surprised (and sad) that Stray Kids didn’t launch themselves at the Top Ten, Because for what I have seen…They’ve always been in the 8’s.
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Also, as a Bias List Geek…THANK YOU NICK!
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Stray Kids are sort of an odd case because they just have SO many releases. Because of this, the highs and lows kind of get whittled off and we’re left with something in the middle.
Again, there’s no way to perfectly quantify this kind of stuff, but it’s still fun to look at!
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Being a numbers nerd myself, having fewer releases during the relevant time period is going to be a big thumb on the scale, especially since groups with more releases also tend to have more releases that deviate from their core sound and thus might not be as much to Nick’s taste. I wouldn’t look at this as a “who’s the best” list but a “whose title tracks are most consistently to Nick’s taste” list.
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Exactamundo!
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omg i’m surprised blackpink is even that high
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Me too, honestly! Blame a smallish discography and a couple of very high-rated tracks to counter the lows.
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SHINee taking the top spot, as they deserve. Interesting list!
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Onf and golden child are my favorite groups so I feel pretty good. Onf are really my top favorite but I don’t like sumkhuvit swimming at all so maybe my average would favor Gol-Cha too. Happy to see them up there in the company of SHINee
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Cool list! I was also wondering what you meant by a “math”-related post, although I figured it must have been something to do with statistics.
As the other comments have said, the top spots aren’t a surprise given your music taste, but the lower end of the top 10 and just below are a bit surprising. Though most of the surprising ones can be reasoned out if you think a little more about the title tracks over the last few years. There’s definitely an advantage for the groups that have released less title tracks, so I think it would be cool to revisit this in two years or so, to see how the averages of the younger groups (or Blackpink-like groups, cough) change as they release more songs.
Now I’m wondering what the “interactive” post will be like tomorrow…
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Darn you, TheBiasList!
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Wow, that is a great countdown! Not at all surprised SHINee topped, but it once again shows how consistent SHINee have been. Also, I think they might be the only artist who’s score would rise if you included Japanese tracks.
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This post and thread say a lot about the importance of looking at inclusion criteria and interpretation when it comes to statistics.
All that aside, love seeing all the new features pop up lately. I also really enjoy rating and quantifying my interests (I do that more so with anime, now) so this is very satisfying to read.
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Brilliant! What a fun idea. Statistics are always a great way to figure things out.
No wonder its my favourite kpop blog as most of the groups I listen often made it to top 10. SHINee as number 1 for me, too.
Besides the fact our music tastes are similar, the blog and comments are actually accepting real opinions instead of needing to sugarcoat things or pretend you worship the ground the idols walk on (something I never quite understood in kpop)
I’m still a lurker at heart (only took a year to make a comment) but while I’m here
I just wanna say, you guys are awesome, I always enjoy reading your opinions!
And keep up the good work, Nick, love the blog!
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