The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s 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 track, follow-up or promotional video between Dec. 1st, 2021 and Nov. 30th, 2022.
Curious about past countdowns? Check out the masterpost here!
Honorable Mentions
Numbers 50-41
40. LE SSERAFIM – Fearless
Shredding current girl group trends with a sleek and stylish sound, Fearless thrives on simplicity and a sense of effortless cool. It’s a wisp of a song, but one that never wore out its welcome even as more bombastic competitors emerged. (full review)
39. IVE – Eleven
Who knew what we were in for when IVE debuted with this fun, early-December bop? The group would go on to conquer charts, but the seeds were sown immediately with Eleven’s charismatic vocal phrasing and wicked, bhangra-inspired beat. (full review)
38. Everglow – Pirate
For those who like their K-pop big and weird, Everglow’s Pirate is a ship worth boarding. The song hearkens back to early-10’s EDM, anchored by a mammoth chorus and a sassy performance that has its tongue placed firmly in its cheek. (full review)
37. Tempest – Bad News
Rarely do debuts act as such blatant statements of intent. Tempest literally introduced themselves to the K-pop industry with Bad News. Its giddy free-for-all intensity is hard to resist. Overstuffed, yes… but in the best possible way. (full review)
36. DRIPPIN – Villain
DRIPPIN kicked off their Villain series with flair, harnessing a rugged electro beat and swinging chorus that only grew stronger with age. It borrows liberally from boy group tropes, but they’re well-honed and polished to a bright sheen. (full review)
35. YOUNITE – Everybody (ft. DJ Juice)
Though YOUNITE’s debut year was marred by disappointing comebacks, they emerged with the groovy, old-school Everybody and instantly carved out a fun, funky niche. It’s a wonderful red herring in their discography. (full review)
34. NCT Dream – Beatbox
While most of the NCT universe engaged in a shouting match this year (Dream included), the peppy Beatbox stood out as an early-summer highlight. This is what happens when boy groups are given a chorus worth getting excited for. (full review)
33. VERIVERY – Tap Tap
Some songs just keep getting better the more you hear them, and Tap Tap’s idiosyncratic quirks helped smooth over its jarring transitions. More than anything, it’s wonderful to see VERIVERY re-embrace a bright sound and energy that fits them like a glove. (full review)
32. IVE – Love Dive
Love Dive will go down as one of 2022’s most iconic songs, and for good reason. The music drips with personality, finding a middle-ground between meme-worthy catchphrases and compelling electronic soundscapes. (full review)
31. Nature – Limbo!
Hearkening back to the days of Bo Peep Bo Peep and Bar Bar Bar, Limbo tempers its novelty with a blazing instrumental and go-for-broke performance that verges on straight-up bonkers. These are the ingredients for my kind of bizarre K-pop highlight. (full review)
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Nice to see the last year December gang scoring so high! Also I suddenly remembered ONF’s Goosebumps came out last December and that it had a great review so wondering where it would go now! 🙃
For my 40-31 the orders are probably interchangeable for many but this is the general range :
40. ATBO Attitude 💀 (I know, I know… budget NCT & Kick It – but it’s such a vibe lol)
39. Epex Hymn to Love (This honestly gets better each time I listen to it! And they do so well in the stages!)
38. H1-Key Run (Heart Light is the best thing out of this album but Run is definitely a catchy song!)
37. Yuju Play (Really liked her voice in this one – it’s like Kang Daniel’s Paranoia’s Traditional Creepy Version to me 😂)
36. Billlie Ring Ma Bell (It grew on me a lot. That chorus and Moon Sua sold it to me!)
35. Jwiiver Jtrap (I loved this at first listen, it dipped a bit in the middle-months but after discovering Cross Gene’s Black or White I couldn’t get it out of my head of how one high note part in both those songs is so similar and I ended up loving it all over again!)
34. Nmixx O.O (Can’t deny how much I enjoy this one lol)
33. Taeyon INVU (I didn’t listen to this much, but I won’t skip it!)
32. Kang Daniel Parade (It’s not Paranoia but it’s a pleasant listen)
31. Key Gasoline (I would still pick Bad Love over this cuz RETROOOO but it grew a lot on me. I appreciate someone who can make “Gasoline” sound so badass and cool 😂 Also my sibling kept singing this all the time so maybe that helped)
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I love seeing all the H1-Key love, great pop simply done without hype, and somehow ranking equal or above much bigger and better promoted groups’ songs.
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Yeah, especially since H1-Key were far ahead of the game with the low-key, minimalistic songs. Athletic Girl doesn’t get nearly the credit it deserves.
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Yesss! Athletic Girl is on my list too lol! In a higher bracket! 😀 Honestly I really enjoyed both their comebacks and they have really amazing vocals and stage presence!
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wow I’m surprised (in a good way of course) that some of the songs on the list made it! I wasn’t expecting FEARLESS, ELEVEN, Pirate, and LOVE DIVE at all. I love all four of those songs and I’m happy they made it
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In this bracket, in some order
IVE “After Like” grew on me, despite or perhaps because of leaning heavily on another song
Golden Child “Knocking on my door”
Super Junior “Mango”
Jinjin and Rocky of Astro “Just Breathe”
Victon “Bonnie and Clyde”
Kim Sung Kyu “Savior” – darling daughter played this a lot #raisingthemright
Wonho “Somebody” – also daughter
Park Bom “Flower” – a great song to sing at the top of the lungs driving down the highway
NCT Dream “Saturday Drip” – ok why, don’t know, but playcount
Oh My Girl “Drip” – a song I love to hate and love (toxic, non toxic)
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After Like would be here for me too. I think it suffers from similar issues as their other songs (see my comment below), but in this case the song is so polished it feels too perfect, which is off-putting. Yet, it is endlessly catchy and the sample is too good.
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I’m happy YOUNITE’s Everybody made it; I’ve been listening to it since reading the review here (otherwise I probably wouldn’t have come across it), and it’s been one of my favorites of the year.
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Out of these I only like Love Dive, and I’d put it much higher (probably top 10). Still unsure what I feel about Tap Tap, sometimes I like it, sometimes I don’t care for it lmao.
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Now, I’m wondering where is Bop? Bop? and LOVEADE…
Anyways…
Limbo-limbo-lim, lilimbo-limbo-lim!
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IVE doing it like GFRIEND during their debut days…constantly improving their signature sound. Who knows, they may deliver their own version of Navillera next comeback? 👀
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PIRATE forever! We’ll shiver, me timbers gang, where are you all? Ohm???
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The producers behind IVE really need some praise. The way they made three title tracks that sound great on first listen is so refreshing in an era where so many songs take time to catch on. Eleven is still so good after a year!
The dark, funky aspects of Fearless have grown on me. I really want to see what Le Sserafim have in store next.
Tempest is the boy group debut of the year for me. The entire mini album is full of bouncy material that stands out in a mass of boy group songs that all pull from the same template. It is a no skip project.
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Also, thanks for reminding me of Sparkling by Chungha on your previous countdown post. I forgot how good that song is!
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👍👍👍 Sparkling is great, easily in my top 10.
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LOVE DIVE SUPREMACY. This goes into the top 10 on my list.
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huh….compared to last year theres a lot more songs that grew on u rather than got an 8.75 out of the gate
but im not complaining! love dive would easily be a 9 for me
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Pirate and Fearless for the win!!
I am honestly shocked that Limbo made it this high–I know it’s well liked on this site but I find everything but the post-chorus messy and unlistenable.
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Of the IVE songs featured today, I didn’t expect “Love Dive” to be ranked higher than “Eleven” here.
Personally, I prefer “Eleven” although “Love Dive” has that “goosebump-inducing” post-chorus. They’re both really solid songs with a small gap in quality between them.
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Damn I can’t be the only one who absolutely dislikes Nature’s ‘Limbo’ and Everglow’s ‘Pirate’
I dispise the chorus of ‘Limbo’ and the “Cause I’m a pirate, yeah, yeah, A pirate, yeah, yeah, A pirate, yeah, yeah, Now let me introduce myself” is a massive deal breaker for me. Other parts of ‘Pirate’ were great, incredible even, but that just killed the song.
There’s no way I’d put those 2 songs anywhere near or above Tempest ‘Bad News’, IVE’s ‘Love Dive’ and ‘Eleven’, Le Sserafim’s ‘Fearless’ or Verivery’s ‘Tap Tap’.
For me personally, I would have IVE’s ‘Love Dive’ in the Top 10 with Tempest’s ‘Bad News’ in the Top 20.
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Forgot Pirate was eligible for this year’s roundup! I really need an Everglow comeback soon, I miss their bangers.
Thrilled to see Limbo on here as the no.1 champion of this song being peak camp in k-pop!
I wouldn’t have chosen Fearless or Eleven myself, they both sound too empty to me and not strong enough as debut tracks, but Love Dive is fantastic!
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Yes, “Limbo” is peak camp! It fills the niche left beind by Orange Caramel, and is something one cannot hear in western music.
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Love Dive and Eleven are fine, but definitely are not close to my top 50. I find, despite their vibrancy and catchiness, they ultimately feel barren, where the songs lack the ‘flavour’ of the soundscapes they are trying to emulate, notably in Eleven, where I think the song missed an opportunity to engage within more authentic instrumentation. I think Love Dive’s flaw is its weak hook (ooh-ooh, ooh-ooh, lalalalalalala).
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Also, Villain is great, and my favourite one here. If only it didn’t have that rap.
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Pirate supremacy! I love how even though Everglow didnt have a cb this year they were still able to make the list
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sorry for being super late, i was being a lazy-ass and i couldnt post a j-pop review so here it is
electric boy – kara
kara’s japanese releases seem to be a bit more overlooked, but there are some gems that are worth listening to. my favorite is of course, the effusive electric boy, which takes their sweetune-produced sound (although it isnt produced by sweetune) and takes it to j-pop levels.
the synth instrumental are one of the things that define kara’s sound, even adding some electricity sounds in the pre-chorus to make the song live up to its title (along with a small key-change). this part feels more disjointed from the rest of the song, but it doesn’t matter. then we get to the euphoric chorus, which takes everything up to 11. the instrumental becomes more maximalist, and the girls deliver a brilliant melody coupled with some soaring notes. this is the kind of music i should’ve heard for kara’s reunion, but i’ll take what they give me for now, because i always have these songs to fall back on.
hooks: 9
production: 9
longevity: 10
bias: 9
rating: 9.25
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So much good stuff!! Surprised and happy to see Fearless made it up here! I kind of glossed over it the first time I heard it, but it was love at 2nd listen.
IVE has been fantastic this year, though I would have Eleven and Love Dive higher than After Like in my personal countdown, though they would all be pretty much right on top of each other. Three great singles from IVE – I’m very much looking forward to whatever they release next.
And yessss Limboooooooo!
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Surprised love dive ranked that low because I expected it to be anywhere in top 10. Easily my song of the year. Eleven is great too I still listen to it these days, afterlike otoh aged like milk to me sorry not sorry
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