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 BTS’s placement on the ULTIMATE ARTIST RANKING page!
BTS: A Career In Song Ratings
The Breakdown
Highest Rated Songs
Danger, I Need U, Dope, Blood, Sweat & Tears
Lowest Rated Songs
Imperial Phases
Boy In Luv -> I Need U (2014-2015)
Dope -> Not Today (2015-2017)
Slump Phases
Permission To Dance -> Hooligan (2021-2026)
Rating Average: 8.28
Overall Trendline:
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Spring Day is definitely a 10 for the sentimental value alone, it is such a beautiful midtempo. And Butter’s a 9 for me. I agree with the rest, yeesh, their 2014-2017 singles run is too strong to be surpassed lol, definitely one of the strongest runs in kpop.
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are you going to feauture babymonster’s “i like it” as a buried treasure?
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And we finally got the BTS guys! Their singles run during their first few years was very insane.
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Isn’t butter like a 9.25-9.5 or something? Don’t remember you mentioning it falling below 9…
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Yes, it slipped over time.
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ahh, understandable, because I don’t think you mentioned it anywhere until now
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Many more are 10’s for me: Run, Save Me, Spring Day, DNA, Fake Love, Boy With Luv, Black Swan. There’s a music video for V’s Singularity – one of their best!, – so isn’t that a single too? It’s a 10 for me as well.
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While they had some great early songs, I think their imperial phase runs from 2015 (beginning with I Need You) through much of 2020 and the Map of the Soul era. What ended their Imperial Phase for me is Dynamite (which ironically made them bigger than ever). While I like some of the songs on BE, I feel like that marked the new stage of their career, from Dynamite to now – and for me, it hasn’t been the same.
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I don’t count solo tracks, even if they’re off a group album.
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sad they’ve been in terminal decline… i’ll always look back fondly since they were my gateway drug to kpop
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Looking at this graph literally makes me feel like this
https://media.tenor.com/R57vFaFcdiYAAAAM/girl-smoking-winter.gif
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Permission to Dance at a 6 is wild to me 😭 I love the melodies in that one and the message at the time was great. I also can’t wrap my mind around 2.0 being rated lower than Cortis’s TNT. Are we hearing the same songs LOL
Sorry my admiration for BTS’s discography makes me heavily biased 😂 I’ll probably rate all their singles later since they’re my ult ✌️
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My personal average was 8.92, which is lower than I expected considering they’re my ult group. A lot of my favorite BTS songs are b-sides though, so it makes sense.
Highest ranked title tracks (10/10):
Just One Day, Save Me, Blood Sweat and Tears, Spring Day, Not Today, DNA, Boy With Luv, Butter
And some of my favorite b-sides:
dimple, Love Maze, Serendipity, Magic Shop, I’m Fine, anpanman, so what, jamais vu, dis-ease, Normal, One More Night, and more
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PtD a 6 is wild to me in the opposite direction, but I am not shocked this is the case because I have never been a great fan of Ed Sheeran’s style, and I may have become an active disliker of it after the first few years. Mind you, I think he is incredibly talent, I just think he made a conscious choice of how he was going to go about selling music which is unarguably successful and so not necessarily the wrong choice 🤣
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BTS is here!! Was looking forward to this one and their (Korean) imperial phase, 2013-2017 (personally til 2019 and a bit of 2020) was a magical time for their music. That later part of the graph is tough to see in comparison though lol. Regardless I’ll always have a fondness for the Bangtan Boys, they have a big, varied discography now, they were a big part of introducing me to k-pop, they were the first group I ever stanned, me and my sister spent a lot of free time watching their content haha.
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I really like their music from 2016 – 2017:
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If I’m seeing correctly and Spring Day has really risen to 9.5 for you, then I have to say this happened to me too. At first I was like “okay nice ballad, next”. After years I recognised it for the absolute masterpiece it is. I guess ballads need time to reveal their assets.
As for the general discography, apart from the 10s they already have here, for me personally, Run, Save me, Spring Day, Fire and Fake Love are also a 10. Run remains my absolute favorite song of theirs even if it’s more subdued than their general sound and even if they have objectively better songs. Listening to that song and watching that MV made me feel as if BTS were seeing me specifically and whispering this song in my ear as a secret. I’ve looked and searched around in the industry for years but I haven’t been able to recreate the feeling they gave me at that specific moment. I know it’s never going to happen.
As for the group in general, all I can say is, I know I’ll be listening to their next album as long as they release music, and I’ll have fun doing it.
(On a side note I really dislike Butter. I have barely listened to it and would give it a generous 7.5. Dynamite is a better song imo).
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i did my own average for bts’s discography and it came into a 9, which would put them in the legends category in my book
see they’re my ults and their discography is the one to beat in kpop imo
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Should have been a TT
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i know that butter fell for you (wasn’t expecting it to drop below 9 tho) but I thought dynamite also fell a lot? I mean, you mentioned dynamite in a more negative way in some posts.
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also, boy with luv is still only an 8.75 despite being #10 in your top 50 kpop songs of 2019?
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Oops! You got me there. I meant to change that one but just have accident moved onto the next song before remembering to do it. Will update when I’m back at my computer.
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i miss what they used to be alot i was listening to pandongangsan the other day and i looked up the lyrics and its just kind of so fucking wild that theyre releasing the kind of stuff theyre releasing these days vs what they used to be. like theyre unrecognizable
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I wouldn’t say that. There are nuggets in the lyrics of Arirang here and there that fit them and a few that directly connect to previous lyrics. I honestly think they just didn’t get the time to regroup and find their footing as a group and as creatives after both the military service (which I am sure had an effect on all of them, but seems to have been particularly taxing for RM who is a huge part of the group’s identity creatively speaking) and their solo efforts which pushed each of them into a very different sonic identity and mood. I personally find the album uneven, but also accurate mood-wise to their current situation.
I was expecting the first comeback to be a bit rocky, it was inevitable to have a transition phase in their situation unless they stuck to what they had done before, and those are rarely smooth. I had (and still have) higher expectations for what they will do next, after hopefully reconnecting more both amongst themselves and with their creative endeavours and having some more time to polish whatever they come up with.
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I like their ascendent stage – Dope, Fire, DNA, Blood Sweat Tears. Mikrocosmos is a mighty fine fan service song. Their world domination phase is not my style.
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