K-pop has been a singles-driven market for awhile now, but that only seems to be truer with each passing year. Either comebacks don’t have enough songs to be called an “album,” or the b-sides are clearly designed to pad a tracklist rather than stand out on their own. With that said, there were a handful of albums I loved in 2024. Many were attached to great title tracks, but in order to land on this list I really had to love the entire work.
Criteria remains the same from 2023: to be eligible for this countdown, an album must include at least four full songs (intros don’t count).
Honorable Mentions:
Dignity – Digmotion
DKB – Urban Ride
P1Harmony – Killin’ It
QWER – Manito
Taemin – Eternal
TAN – W Series: 3TAN
tripleS – ASSEMBLE24
Vahn – Come & Go
The Wind – Hello: My First Love
Xdinary Heroes – Troubleshooting
10. DAY6 – Fourever
DAY6 are no stranger to this list, often crafting albums that are even stronger than their singles. Fourever catches them in fine form, doling out exactly what fans want while nudging at genre lines here and there. B-side Happy has even become a bona fide hit in its own right.
Standout Album Tracks: Sad Ending, The Power Of Love
9. NMIXX – Fe3O4: Break
NMIXX opened the year with their strongest album yet, blitzing through a number of genres with indefatigable charisma. Run For Roses finally capitalizes on their vocal talent while the anthemic Break The Wall closes the album with a bang.
Standout Album Tracks: Run For Roses, Break The Wall
8. Vanner – Capture The Flag
Capture The Flag feels like a K-pop album that could have been released in the middle of the 2010’s. It’s a bit all over the place in sound, but delivered with such panache. The songwriting is solid as a rock throughout, matching the group’s polished delivery.
Standout Album Tracks: Circuit, After Party
7. YOUNITE – Another
Based on their past material, I would never have expected to feature an album from YOUNITE on this list. But not only is title track Geekin a wonderfully silly highlight, but the rest of the project offers equally fun takes on idol hip-hop.
Standout Album Tracks: How We Do, Poco Loco
6. ZEROBASEONE – Cinema Paradise
What Cinema Paradise lacks in a cohesive sound, it makes up for in sonic breadth. It’s the group’s most exciting album yet, stuffed full with genre diversions that all work better than expected. ZEROBASEONE bring plenty of personality to each style, making this a rare no-skip album.
Standout Album Tracks: Road Movie, Kill The Romeo, Insomnia
5. The Wind – Our: YouthTeen
Both albums from The Wind were great this year, but Our: YouthTeen earns its spot thanks to a pair of supremely addictive b-sides. Classic K-pop sounds abound throughout this project, fusing nostalgia with forward-looking youth.
Standout Album Tracks: Friendship, Heart Fluttering
4. BOYNEXTDOOR – How?
Not many K-pop albums feel like they’re telling a story, but BOYNEXTDOOR manage to convey narrative through these songs and their placement within How‘s track list. I love the way this album rises and falls, peaking in the middle and coming to a gorgeous denouement with the hushed Dear. My Darling.
Standout Album Tracks: So Let’s Go See The Stars, Our, l i f e i s c o o l
3. TWS – Summer Beat!
I’ve actually listened to Summer Beat more than its predecessor, though that’s largely due to its pair of mammoth singles. I have a longstanding bias toward summer-themed K-pop albums and TWS were one of the few to release one this year. Its sound is bright, nostalgic and always highlighted by strong, memorable melody.
Standout Album Tracks: Keep On, YOU+ME=7942, Fire Confetti
2. TWS – Sparkling Blue
TWS’s two mini albums are essentially tied, but I’ll give Sparkling Blue the slight edge because it’s their debut and it has their best unpromoted b-side so far (First Hooky). From beginning to end, the album deposits you within the group’s youth drama world, immediately presenting their core themes via a colorful bunch of incredibly catchy pop songs.
Standout Album Tracks: First Hooky, Unplugged Boy
1. RIIZE – RIIZING
This almost isn’t fair, because by the time 2024 came to an end the final version of this album had essentially become a “greatest hits” of RIIZE’s year. Still, it’s amazing how well the whole project hangs together. Multiple genres collide in a grab bag of sounds, most of which echo past SM Entertainment glories. This makes it a perfect sampler for anyone interested in K-pop, as I’m sure listeners will find at least one song they connect with. I mean, you might as well tack on last year’s Get A Guitar and Memories and have yourself a complete RIIZE collection.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Can completely understand RIIZING nabbing your top spot this year, it really sounds like SM putting their best foot forward through RIIZE in a way we haven’t seen in a long time. Sparkling Blue probably edges it out for myself though, all of its songs landed near the top of my most-played list this year.
Its reception was mixed on this site, but Red Velvet’s Cosmic EP was my AOTY. I agree that it probably isn’t as good as a 10-year anniversary release could have been, it still has such pretty production to me, and reminded me that SM is still the best agency at harmonizing and layering its artists’ vocals. Cosmic the song also ended up being my most played SOTY as well – the Midsommar-styled MV did a lot to set the vibes for it, which pair amazingly well with its chorus, and Wendy’s power note in the bridge is her best yet.
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my favorites:
CINEMA PARADISE – ZEROBASEONE
DREAMSCAPE – NCT DREAM
RIIZING – RIIZE
SUMMER BEAT!, Sparkling Blue – TWS
Kep1going On – Kep1er
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Honestly, for the RIIZING re-package, in addition to only including Combo as the only added song, SM should’ve just added Memories and Get a Guitar.
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For me, Fe304: Break is the best album of the year. From the anthemic Break The Wall to the more mellow Run For Roses, Passionfruit and XOXO to the more chaotic (?) Soñar, Dash and Boom (esp Boom, I swear it’s so unhinged), the album balances things out very nicely. For me, NMIXX wins album of the year for me.
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Really agree with Cinema Paradise and Sparkling Blue…I think Cinema Paradise is ZB1’s best album yet, and gives me a lot of hope for their last year together. Sparkling Blue is one of the best debut albums I’ve heard yet…it gives me the same feeling as TXT’s The Dream Chapter: Star.
Another album I really enjoyed was P1Harmony’s full debut, Killin’ It. Although I didn’t enjoy the title track, the rest of it showed a much wider sonic range that they followed up on with Sad Song.
Finally, a shout out to Yeok Soon by Lee Seung Yoon, whom I first found out about through this blog (via Waterfall–there’s another song on the album called Anthems of Defiance that is like an earth version of it). It’s a great throwback to 90s Brit rock, especially The Verve.
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I quite remember Waterfall, it was so Oasis-esque to me; I’m listening to Anthems of Defiance now, and I can hear the Verve influence, wow.
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1 EPEX – Youth Deficiency
Title: Universe
Bsides: My Girl, 1997, Closer, Wonderful
2 xHEROES- Troubleshooting
Title: Little Things
Bsides: Dreaming Girl, Until the End of Time, Night of Fireworks, Walking on the Moon
3 TXT – Minisode 3
Title: Deja Vu
Bsides – Miracles, Quarter Life Crisis, I’ll See You There Tomorrow
4 TWS – Sparkling Blue
Title: Plot Twist
Bsides: Unplugged Boy, Oh MyMy, First Hooky
5 SF9 – Sequence
Title: Bibora
Bsides: Midnight Song, Domino, Strings
6 TAN – WSeries 3Tan
Title: Hypertonic
Bsides: Adrenaline, Love is an Open Door, Dreamy Love
7 TheKINGDOM – Realize
Title: Flip that Coin
Bsides: Rushush, Gundam, Best Thing
8 n.SSIGN – Happy&
Titles: Happy&, Funk Jam, LoveLoveLove
Bside: Black down
9 DREAMIES – Dreamscape
Title: When I’m With You
Bsides: Rains in Heaven, Heavenly, Flying Kiss
10 TEN – 1st Album
Title: NightWalker
Bsides: Dangerous, Lie with You
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My favorite albums would probably be ARTMS’s ‘Dall’ and OnlyOneOf’s ‘Things I Can’t Say LOve’. Both have quite a hazy and dreamy atmosphere,
which is usually not really my thing, but I liked the excecution of it in these releases. Another thing I loved is how they both put their own touch on the industry’s current trend of UK Garage and ‘easy-listening music’. Instead of simply going with the trends, they combine them with their already existing music styles and use them as inspiration to expand their sonical identities as K-pop groups, which I really appreciate as a listener.
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No Twice in the Honorable Mentions? 😔 Thought With You-th would make it from the half year list but I guess it dropped for you
Anyways heres my list:
DAY6 – Fourever
Nayeon – NA
NMIXX – FE3O4: Break
tripleS – ASSEMBLE24
TWICE – With You-th
TWS – Sparkling Blue, Summer Beat
Xdinary Heroes – Troubleshooting, Live and Fall
ZEROBASEONE – Cinema Paradise
I’d add RIIZE’s album but I havent been able to listen to them since the Seunghan incident went down the way it did 😖 which sucks because they’ve had an amazing year of music but I just can’t enjoy it in good faith…
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To be honest, album-wise my year has been far more dominated with western artists – namely Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine, Charli XCX’s Brat, and Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft have been on constant loop
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Same, all three albums you mentioned are great. Naeyon’s is suprisingly solid too! I think it gives Ariana Grande vibes in tracks like Count it and Heaven.
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I think in terms of albums, K-pop’s biggest problems is the amount of songs they have. Like how can you say you dropped an album when it has 6/8 songs and one is titled Intro? lol
For my countdown, 1-3 are my most listened K-pop albums according to Apple Music. The rest I will just place them in terms of what I think I listened to the most. Also I guess I’ll include “albums” starting with 7 (lol) or more songs. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have a list.
10. ARTMS – Dall: I only listened to this one twice, but props to them group for coming back after the LOONA mess and making an album that feels like an actual listening experience. It’s this low because I didn’t revisit it after May, but it’s great.
09. aespa – Armaggedon: I was really hyped about aespa’s debut album. The first half is pretty solid, taking on their usual sound (EDM with some hip-hop/r&b influences). But the second half is a bit of a mess. Bahama, Live my life, Prologue? Not their best…
08. Jay B – Crash: I think I would place it higher if it had not been released so late into the year. I haven’t had time to listen to it more than three times, but I can surely say I liked most songs at first listen. Also, Crash is a great first single and this the perfect sound for him.
07. NCT 127 – Walk: I think Walk has to be up there with their best title-tracks. I love that this is possibly their most cohesive and coherent album, with all songs feeling like they belong in the project. It feels a little boring at times, but songs like Pricy are totally worth the listen.
06. NCT DREAM – DREAMSCAPE: Despite having released a few singles that I don’t really enjoy this year (Smoothie, Rains in heaven, Flying kiss) I know this group will always have amazing album tracks, even if their singles aren’t my thing sometimes. Off the wall, Heavenly and When I’m with you are some of the best.
05. RIIZE – RIIZING: Just like Nick says, this just feels like a “greatest hits” album rather than an actual album. I enjoy listening to it because it just goes banger, after banger, but as a whole, it really doesn’t make sense. Hopefully, for their next releases RIIZE and SM focus on having a more consistent approach in terms of sound.
04. Jaehyun – J: I was expecting Jaehyun to go right into the R&B sound because his voice and style fit the genre so much. I can’t complain here, I was literally served both as an NCT fan and a Jaehyun-biased stan. I find all songs to be good, only Dandelion is a little bland but the rest are right up my alley.
03. NMIXX – Fe3O4: Break: I was never an NMIXX fan and Sonar almost killed my interest in their project. However, Dash is definitely one of my highlights this year and I kept tracks like XO and Passionfruit on replay.
02. Jay Park – The One You Wanted: Similar case to RIIZE lol! In this album, Jay decided he wanted to include a bunch of singles from 2022 and 2023. While it is not the most coherent, I like that he is sticking to the R&B/pop sound and he is taking things seriously in that style. Also, as a person who listents to hip-hop frequently, it was so surreal to see him mix hip-hop with K-pop in the tracklist. I mean, only Jay Park could drop an album with Ty Dolla $ign, YG and Chungha and IU in the same tracklist!
01. Yugyeom – Trust Me: By far my most-listened K-pop album this year. Just like Jay Park, Yugyeom also went for the R&B sound. However, I would say his album is more chill to listen to. I was also surprised that some producers and writers from Ariana Grande’s eternal sunshine (my fave album this year) are credited on this one. I also loved the closing track, Summer Blues. It’s just a very enjoyable R&B/pop song.
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Honorable mentions:
Nayeon – Na
P1 Harmony – Killin’ It
XG – AWE (And intro, an interlude and a remix lol. I don’t think it’s fair to include it as an album?)
CAMO – Yours Truly
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Sure it’s fair, it has 5 full songs. Or 6 if you do what the rest of us did and create a playlist which is exactly the same as the album except you replace the Woke Up remix with the real thing. :-p
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6nRqljVFv5WyFWmGOgoFPA
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My top K-Pop album would be Starlit of Muse by Moonbyul (Fav song: Memories ft ONEWE) and my favorite would be Colours by Solar (Fav song: Blue). These 2 occupied my most played track as well since I’m still totally biased to them.
Globally wise, I would give my first place to Chappell Roan – The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, followed by Hit Me Hard and Soft and brat. I’m a weirdo as I do like those loud and bombastic music sometimes, but I tend to enjoy sad music during some specific moment too.
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I find that my willingness to listen to an album is not proportional to the average quality of its songs, but instead proportional to the quality of its worst songs. In other words if an album has a lot of filler I’ll quickly lose interest regardless how strong its best tracks are. With that in mind, my list of best albums would be:
But I feel the above list doesn’t quite communicate just how much more appealing <Dall> was as a whole body of work compared to everything else. It’s almost like it occupies positions 1–11, and the rest of them round out the top-20.
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xdinary heroes – live and fall
nct dream – dreamscape
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