Before I move on to J-pop, global pop and other categories, I like to sum up the K-pop countdowns that have filled the past few weeks. The title of this post should technically be called “The Best Overall K-pop Comebacks & Debuts of 2024,” since not every album on this list marks the return of an artist. However, that’s a bit wordy.
This list takes five categories and gives them a weighted rank. First place gets ten points, second place gets nine, tenth place gets one and anything below that counts as one point each. Once all these numbers are added up, I’m able to rank my top picks on a points-based system. Think of this as the grand prize (daesang), given out by The Bias List each year.
It’s clear that 2024 was all about a small group of albums/comebacks for me, as the top three on this list all set records for their number of points. Previous to today, the highest points a comeback ever received was 37! There were also three repeat artists from 2023.
Here are the countdowns I included as part of this aggregate:
Top 50 Songs
Top 10 Albums
Top 10 Music Videos
Top 10 Choreography
Top 40 B-Sides
Honorable Mentions
8 Points: aespa – Armageddon, TVXQ – Zone
7 Points: TRENDZ – Go Up, The Wind – Hello, My First Love
8 (tie). ZEROBASEONE – Cinema Paradise
Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 5 points
Music Video: 0 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 3 points
TOTAL: 9
8 (tie). Young Posse – Ate That
Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 0 points
Music Video: 8 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 0 points
TOTAL: 9
7. TWS – Last Bell
Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 0 points
Music Video: 10 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 2 points
TOTAL: 13
6. The Wind – Our Youth:Teen
Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 6 points
Music Video: 0 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 7 points
TOTAL: 14
5. Nayeon – NA
Title track(s): 3 points
Album: 0 points
Music Video: 9 points
Choreography: 6 points
B-Sides: 0 points
TOTAL: 18
4. BOYNEXTDOOR – How?
Title track(s): 2 points
Album: 7 points
Music Video: 6 points
Choreography: 3 points
B-Sides: 11 points
TOTAL: 29
3. TWS – Summer Beat!
Title track(s): 17 points
Album: 8 points
Music Video: 10 points
Choreography: 5 points
B-Sides: 4 points
TOTAL: 44
2. RIIZE – RIIZING
Title track(s): 15 points
Album: 10 points
Music Video: 0 points
Choreography: 17 points
B-Sides: 6 points
TOTAL: 48
1. TWS – Sparkling Blue
Title track(s): 10 points
Album: 9 points
Music Video: 10 points
Choreography: 17 points
B-Sides: 10 points
TOTAL: 56
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Nick, what I love about this blog is that often your favorite music is not in my wheelhouse. What I mean by that is that you instantly fell in love with TWS, while nearly all year I just could not find what’s so special about them musically, other than the obvious earworm of Plot Twist. (I usually don’t watch MVs until I’ve become interested in a group, so that element was missing in my appreciation of them, or the lack thereof.) But now that the holidays have begun and I have time to spend more time with music, I realized I’m coming around on TWS. I’m starting to get it. Tunes like First Hooky and If I’m S Can You Be My N are starting to sound special to me.
Maybe next I gotta go back to The Wind and see if that’ll start to click with me too!
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Glad you’re giving them a chance! Here’s a recent video I’ve become obsessed with that may help speed things along 😉
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Is it sacrilegious to say I think I prefer this version of Hey Hey? From its Sweetune-like opening to its symphonic flourishes, this version feels more bombastic and epic, almost Kis-My-Ft2-like.
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(and I like the delay/reverb on the vocals, wow)
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Not at all! It’s only been out for a few days and I already love it pretty much equally. I’m so glad they released studio-quality audio on this so I can add it to my music library 😏
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RIIZE, TWS, BOYNEXTDOOR were the golden trio for me this year. I am so excited to see what the new year will bring from them.
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Respecting your choices but again feel compelled to mention Oh My Girl, NMixx and StayC. It’s interesting how the boy groups really seemed to catch your taste this year when for me it was the opposite. The three groups I mentioned as well as Loossemble (RIP), C:Lassy and other women led acts really caught my ear this year.
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