Just like last year, I wanted to share my top twenty most-viewed posts for 2025. I find this list an interesting gauge of which acts are popular or buzzy at the moment (at least among netizens who read reviews).
There aren’t many surprises, here. The list is dominated by a couple of the most popular groups and artists — especially when it comes to Western taste. It always makes me a bit sad, though, because these also tend to be the releases I dislike so casual readers are probably coming away from this blog thinking I’m a grumpy guy who hates everything.
What’s most interesting to me is that there’s not a single SM artist on the list this year. This confirms my thoughts that the agency has struggled in 2025 and makes me hope they reignite their prospects in 2026.
Full Top 20
20. Song Review: J-Hope (BTS) – Killin’ It Girl (ft. GloRilla)
19. Song Review: ATEEZ – Lemon Drop
18. Song Review: ENHYPEN – Bad Desire (With Or Without You)
17. Song Review: Jennie (BLACKPINK) – like JENNIE
16. Song Review: NMIXX – Know About Me
15. Song Review: IVE – Rebel Heart
14. Song Review: J-Hope (BTS) – Mona Lisa
13. The Top Three K-Pop Songs of June 2025
12. Song Review: BLACKPINK – Jump
11. Song Review: Han & Felix (Stray Kids) – Truman
10. Song Review: LE SSERAFIM – Hot
I don’t feel like this song was their signature 2025 hit, but they’ve still got plenty of appeal with readers.
9. Song Review: CORTIS – FaSHioN
Aaargh! My 2025 arch-nemeses made it onto the list.
8. Song Review: Jennie (BLACKPINK) – Love Hangover (ft. Dominic Fike)
She’s all over this list — clearly popular with Western audiences.
7. Song Review: Jennie (BLACKPINK) – ExtraL (ft. Doechii)
And… here she is again!
6. Song Review: Bang Chan & Hyunjin (Stray Kids) – Escape
It surprises me how well these unit track reviews did. I kind of wish I had put more effort into them, now!
5. Song Review: Jisoo (BLACKPINK) – Earthquake
Basically, anything related to BLACKPINK is guaranteed to do numbers.
4. Song Review: Jin (BTS) – Don’t Say You Love Me
This isn’t surprising, either. Anything related to BTS is popular.
3. Song Review: Stray Kids – Hollow
Japanese releases usually don’t get as much coverage online, which means more people head my way to get their fix.
2. Song Review: Katseye – Gnarly
Yep, it was super viral this year so I’m not shocked to see this so high.
1. Song Review: Jennie (BLACKPINK) – ZEN
I have a feeling less people covered this song online since it was a surprise pre-release, so that meant my review was more likely to come up on search engines.
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
I expected FaSHioN to be 1st or 2nd given how polarizing it was, hell prolly just as, if not more than Gnarly (and that’s a high bar lmao). I also expected AHOF somewhere on the list given how much traction your reviews on their songs got, maybe they missed the top 20 mark by just a little ig
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Also, speaking of Gnarly, what are your thoughts on their new single “Internet Girl”? I feel like it tries too hard to replicate Gnarly, like it’s just another average Disney song with lyrics that sounds so oddly AI-generated 🥴 (but it also has potential to be a grower like Gnarly, idk)
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I actually started drafting a review for it until I realized it wasn’t being promoted with a music video. I don’t mind it. The lyrics are stupid and it’s trying too hard to capture attention in that way, but the beat is actually pretty sturdy and the production pulls from both 90s and 00s indie pop sounds in a way that I enjoy.
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Bro has insane beef with Cortis(maybe BigHit as a whole) at this point
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Happy to see Zen at the top of this list, personally I think it’s the best song from Ruby (which is already a very strong album with many contenders) as well as the best music video. However it always felt to me like it flew under the radar compared to the buzzier singles (Like Jennie, Mantra, ExtraL) so I’m glad to see that people were in fact tuning in.
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