There are a number of acts who have debuted in the past few decades and have dozens of song ratings on this blog. I thought it would be fun to lay these ratings out in chronological order, line-graph style, and take a macro view of their careers so far. Then, similar to my “Underrated K-pop” features, I can average their ratings into one mega-score and place them in a pantheon alongside other acts.
As always, this feature has some rules of its own. I’m including any “Song Review” ratings as part of this graph, including Japanese releases and collaborations with one other artist. I’m not including Buried Treasures or solo/sub-unit releases. For the ratings themselves, I’m using the most current number on this blog, so if a song was part of a “Risers and Fallers” or “Legendary Songs Inauguration” post, that’s the rating you’ll see displayed here. That means there will still be a few ratings here and there I find slightly inaccurate, but it’ll mostly reflect my up-to-date feelings.
Finally, these scores are completely subjective. Feel free to agree, disagree and argue (that’s part of the fun!), but know that this chart reflects the opinion of only one person (me).
Check out ONF’s placement on the ULTIMATE ARTIST RANKING page!
ONF: A Career In Song Ratings
The Breakdown
Highest Rated Songs
Lowest Rated Songs
Message, Sukhumvit Swimming, My Name Is
Imperial Phases
ON/OFF -> Why (2017 – 2019)
Beautiful Beautiful -> The Stranger (2021 – 2025)
Slump Phases
None
Rating Average: 8.82
Overall Trendline:
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
When your LOWEST is an 8, you know you got a banger discography! I absolutely adore Beautiful Beautiful and The Stranger, the former is such a blast of euphoria!
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One of the best discography’s from any group. Although I was expecting an average beyond a 9, but I think they’ll get there if they continue to release consistently good music
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I know I said in Seventeen’s post that they were my overall favourite boy group, but this just reminded me how more consistently strong ONF’s output has been to me. To that point, I actually have almost twice as many ONF songs in my library compared to Seventeen. I’ve enjoyed pretty much all of their EPs/albums!
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On/Of aka ONF have focused on making good pop songs that would be good in almost any era. Solid songs with solid melodies with quality voices backing it up. Plus they are a joy to watch perform. I saw one of those videos of the guys in their military garb at some military performance, and they were just having so much fun performing their songs.
If I have a favorite …. among my favorites … ok, I’ll go by playcount as proxy for favorites: my most played are debut era “Complete”, mid-era “Beautiful Beautiful” and current era “The Stanger”. Guilty pleasure is “Sukhumvit Swimming” – a goofy kitschy song but y’all know I love good kitsch (I’m like a stupiiiiiid swimming (swimming swimming)).
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I only really got into ONF around Sukhumvit Swimming (right after Road to Kingdom) so that song holds a special place in my heart, I adored it so much and it really solidified my desire to delve deeper into them and discover so many fantastic b-sides. It’s crazy that their ‘lowest rated’ songs are still an 8, which is a very high average to achieve otherwise!
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You introduced me to them, Nick! And I wanna say, thank you!! Then, I had grown even more fond of them when they were in Road to Kingdom and kept following them. Their songs are always top notch! I hope they’re coming back soon.
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YAYY they’re in my top 5 boy groups for sure! another group where my favorite songs of theirs are actually their bsides: Difficult, If We Dream, Fly Me to the Moon, Happily Never After, Geppeto, Trip Advisor, Secret Triangle, The Realist, Ubermensch, Aphrodite, Chemical Type, Nothing But a Stranger, I Think I Love U…..and those are just off the top of my head, i’m definitely forgetting some. i have such a soft spot for their ballads, minkyun has one of my favorite voices in kpop
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Deciding to follow them as trainees like a year before they even debuted has been one of the best payoffs ever in my time as a kpop fan. In a world of flip-flopping song quality that plagues so many groups, ONF are just insanely consistent. They need to get back with Hwang Hyun/Monotree IMMEDIATELY and send that trendline rocketing back up where it belongs!!!
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I became a fan of ONF thanks to this blog, too! Their discography is tremendous, and it was this blog that got me to dig in to it. I love that they’re in the `Bias List Favorites’ on the Ultimate Artist Ranking. Also, I am loving this Song Ratings series in general. Thanks Nick!
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I really hope that ONF will release The 2nd Album Part.2 this year, because I don’t like it when a multi-part album is announced and then it remains unfinished.
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They announced it for June!
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ONF…Popping, Beautiful Beautiful, Bye My Monster. Those 3 songs are 10/10. I don’t think any other group has as many, in my books at least. I love them and I hope they don’t disband…PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I am not as enthusiastic about this group as you are, but if I had to choose a favourite, it has to be We must love (9/10). The versus are my favourite part of the song because it has a video game like soundscape that reminds me of a Nintendo
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