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 GIRLS’ GENERATION’s placement on the ULTIMATE ARTIST RANKING page!
GIRLS’ GENERATION: A Career In Song Ratings
The Breakdown
Highest Rated Songs
Into The New World, Girls’ Generation, Gee, Genie (Tell My Your Wish), Paparazzi, Flower Power, I Got A Boy, Forever 1
Lowest Rated Songs
Imperial Phases
Into The New World -> Oh! (2007-2010)
Run Devil Run -> Mr. Mr. (2010-2014)
Catch Me If You Can -> Forever 1 (2015-2022)
Slump Phases
None
Rating Average: 9.00
Overall Trendline:
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
My absolute queens! They’ve been on heavy rotation lately. I can’t wait to see what they’ll do for their 20th anniversary next year (I hope SM doesn’t fumble it but I have my doubts).
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my ultimate k-pop group of all time. I agree with all the 10s and would love to add: Oh!, Mr. Taxi, Bad Girl, The Boys (we missed out on more Teddy Riley collabs…), All My Love Is For You, Galaxy Supernova & Mr. Mr.
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I wonder Nick, what was the biggest jump in how you felt about a specific song, like a miraculous 7.5 turning into a 9+ or something, I am very curious!
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I don’t know about “biggest jump,” but there’s going to be an artist later this week with some crazy jumps in multiple songs.
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I’m suspecting it to be Onlyoneof.
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Another one of my ults. So glad you give them an outstanding rating average.
Unpopular opinion: most people dislike Party, but I love so much. It’s so catchy.
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Also, I’m a little offended that Kissing You isn’t a 10. (Jk I love you, Nick 😂)
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I agree, Party is a banger!
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I remember disliking it when it first came out but it kept growing and growing for me. Its silliness is irresistible in the end and I go back to it every summer.
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THE best k-pop girl group out there, no questions asked. The fact that this one group gave us songs like Genie, Flower Power, Paparazzi, Oh!, IGAB, and Forever1 is unbelievable to me. I think the only other girl group that comes close to them (and their terrific discography) would be Kara, my dear Kara.
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(cannot wait to see you do Kara)
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Also, I cannot wait to see you do Kara & 9muses.
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Ah, SNSD, GG, the OG GG.
I was never quite into Girl’s Generation – more on that later – but I gotta say that “I Got A Boy” is one of the classics of totally bonkers kpop songs that work, mostly because the SM producers produced the shit out of the song and the girls themselves performed the shit out of the song. Unfortunately, the success of the song both financially and musically mean that so many songs try to do the same bonkers thing, most of them with far less success. To misquote Yoda, Do or do not, there is no try.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq7ftOZBy0E
As for the group, they never were my type. I always felt that they were pandering to the male gaze too much. Guys who had the hots for them and Girls who wanted to be just like these goddesses of perfection who the guys all had the hots for. My opinion, freely stated. Let’s just say that I grew up in a different generation.
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Whenever I see “totally bonkers k-pop songs that work”, I can only think of two songs:
Both SM songs, both perfection *chef’s kiss
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From a marketing standpoint I love that SNSD and f(x) were allowed to co-exist in harmony and complement each other with aspects that the other group lacked. Like you said, for everyone else who didn’t buy into the “girly girl” hype of SNSD, there was f(x) as a cool, slightly edgier “alternative” (as alt as mainstream kpop could be lol) which SM smartly leveraged to capture the remaining niche of the market that SNSD never appealed to. Even f(x)’s lack of a fandom name until much later set them apart from the massive force that were SONEs at the time.
I always enjoyed both groups but f(x) were definitely aimed specifically at me.
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They have a career full of hits but more importantly their songs stand the test of time and that’s why snsd is one of the legendary groups of the industry. They are the nations girlgroup for a reason
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The Boys and I Got A Boy aged badly… I can’t bring myself to like those tracks even today
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the opposite happened for me
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out of curiosity what r ur top 10-15 bsides from them? they got some all timers in their jp discography
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Wow what a career! My ultimate favorites are Genie (gotta be one of the best kpop songs of all time) and Mr. Mr.. I’m surprised Mr. Mr. isn’t higher! That legendary double key change at the end gets me every time.
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I’m with you, Mr. Mr. is basically a perfect song in my book (except that Genie is even more of a perfect song, but…they both do what they set out to do SO goddamn well)
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I knew they were the 9-rated girl group you were talking about the other day, haha!!! And wow, right on the nose, with a huge and stellar pool of songs at that! Also noticed the huge rise in ratings for Party and Holiday, well deserved! SNSD just never missed ❤ they are a big group for me too as Gee, Oh, and Taeyeon’s I were some of my first k-pop songs prior to knowing what k-pop was!
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I’ve been waiting for this one! Definitely some increased ratings (notably holiday). Pleased to see that galaxy supernova was a 9, ive always loved it but had a feeling it wasn’t your cup of tea.
which lalala are we talking about? There’s the vote song one which I hate and the really ethereal one.
indestructible being the lowest rated song makes sense, I think its universally looked down upon especially amongst their ballads
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forget twice, GG SERVED WITH THAT 9.00 AVERAGE DESPITE BEING ACVTIVE FOR ALMOST 20 YEARS.
also Nick, ik we won’t ever get any “official” risers or fallers for these, but some of these changes are crazy. i didn’t expect girl’s generation to be a 10, the boys to grow from a 9 to 9.75, flower power going from 10, hoot being a 9 (i remember you said it wasn’t a 9 before), holiday rising from a freaking 8.5 to a 9.5 (it didnt even appear in any top song lists though), etc.
also is there a higher resolution version of this graph? some of the names are rlly hard to see.
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The image I’m feeding into WordPress is quite high-res, but for some reason it gets fuzzier when published even though I have it set to display in full resolution. I’m not sure what’s going on…
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can I ask for the huge jump in holiday btw (from 8.5 to a 9.5)
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Summer songs often tend to rise for me because I play them every year and they develop a certain nostalgia over time. This one’s a particularly fantastic summer song, too.
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I got a boy is literally one of my most favorite songs ever period. I think it lowkey defined my music taste as I grew up.
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also damn a 9.00 score, it’s really good but that means they’re only 1 sub-9 song away from leaving legends.
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oh that’s sad cuz they’re prob the only girl group that is be a 9+ average for nick rn 😟
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30+ singles with 8 10/10 song, that’s crazy achievement. I honestly didn’t expect that SNSD will fall on the average 9, given that they’ve released TONS of singles and tbh I didn’t really like their recent releases other than Forever 1.
Guess I’m bout to using those Gen Z slangs: SNSD ate it up and left no crumbs.
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I feel that SNSD is due for A-Z tbh, I never thought Im gonna find someone who love Holiday as much as me. The song is perfect, it has the right combination of pop perfection with cheesiness, like its perfect celebration song
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why is the sound quality of bad girl so bad, lol it makes it rlly unenjoyable to listen to
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The fact that all of their discography barring like 3 songs is imperial era… Absolute legends, I think there’s no argument about that.
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