At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
May 2026 Overall Thoughts
While May wasn’t quite as stuffed with highlights as April, it was still an above-average month as far as K-pop’s 2026 is concerned. I had no problem finding songs to fill my top three and there were quite a few solid runner-ups as well.
May struck a nice balance between veteran comebacks and new voices. My favorite music tended to come from those artists right in the middle, debuting between 2019 and 2024. However, I enjoyed songs from new acts like YUHZ, Heart Of Woman and AND2BLE. And, it’s always nice to hear from nostalgic voices like Taeyang, I.O.I and SeeYa (even if the music isn’t always up to par).
Upbeat pop seemed to be the norm this month, as K-pop slowly transitions from the muted tones of years past to brighter fare. House music is especially popular at the moment, which is unsurprising given it’s such a perennial favorite of the industry. I’m hopeful to hear more dynamic melodies tied to these house songs as so many of them still favor talking over singing. As overused as the genre is, it’s still one of my go-to sounds so I’m not mad at this current slate of trends.
My top three choices of May all come from familiar artists (and were all released in the same week!). Numbers two and three are mainstays of this chart and I’m delighted to welcome back my number one after a couple years away from the top three. Each of these songs proved to be growers for me. J-pop also had plenty to offer this month. I actually had to leave a few songs out of my top three that could have otherwise made it. That’s a far cry from March of this year, when I couldn’t even pick a song to include in my top choices! In fact, I paired two songs by the same artist at number one because they’re both fantastic and quite similar in execution.
My “Ultimate Artist Ranking” page continues to fill up with many new faces added to the pantheon. I still have plenty of heavy hitters waiting for their turn and plan to keep this feature going for the forseeable future. Who do you all want to see next?
Though I didn’t write about it on the blog, I got the chance to attend Close Your Eyes’s Canadian tour this week and really enjoyed their show. The venue was nice and small and they sounded fantastic. I’m looking forward to more K-pop concerts in the coming months and keeping all my fingers crossed that TWS somehow decides to do a North American tour in the near future.
Looking forward to June, I feel optimism about where we might be headed. June is a historically strong month for K-pop as summer songs start to roll out in earnest, and we’ve already got a stacked comeback slate scheduled for the month. Many of these (SHINee, ONF, RIIZE, Xia Junsu, BOYNEXTDOOR) are personal favorites of mine. It could be very competitive. I certainly hope so!
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.5
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week One
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Four
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Five
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. Fantastics – Sunflower
2. ROIROM – Classic Wave
1. Sakurazaka46 – Lonesome Rabbit / Coin Laundry
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
AND2BLE – Curious (review)
BOYNEXTDOOR – ddok ddok ddok (review)
ChaDongHyeop – Doogeundae (review)
Heart Of Woman – Lost In Proof (review)
I.O.I – Suddenly (review)
IDID – Fly! (review)
NEXZ – Hypeman (review)
SeeYa – Stay (review)
Taeyang – Live Fast Die Slow (review)
Taeyong – WYLD (review)
YOUNITE – Pose! (review)
YUHZ – Rush Rush (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Week In K-pop: Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4 / Week 5
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS OF MAY
3. ZEROBASEONE – Top 5 (review)
2. TWS – All The Possibilities (review)
1. ITZY – Motto (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of March 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2025
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 
Damn, ddok ddok ddok is in honourable mentions, does that mean it rose to the 8s now? I still don’t get the song’s appeal ngl, it’s still in the low/mid-7s for me 😭
But anyways, my top 3 would be WYLD, Motto and Pose!. Honourable mentions are Curious, Lemonade and Top 5. This month wasn’t as spectacular as April, but does the job well
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Yeah, that stupid BND song has somehow wormed its way into my heart in the same way as Bag Bad Back and Head Shoulders Knees Toes did. Some readers called in on day one and they were right…
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that’s funny cuz the opposite happened for me…ddok ddok ddook became even more irritating for me
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story of out lived with every BND comeback😂
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lives🙃
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ddok ddok ddok mentioned!
My country mentioned!
Motto is my top song too. I also found myself listening to more full albums this month. Here’s how I feel about them:
IOI 👏🏻
YOUNITE 🤩
ITZY 🥰
Billlie 👍🏻
Taeyang 👍🏻
Taeyong 😒
Onewe 😎
Seeya 😇
CrazAngel ⭐
xikers ⚡
HOW 🔥
NMIXX 🤨
aespa 😬
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I’m sorry to be the corrector again, but both this month and your Top 3 songs of April post both say March instead of their respective month, and it bothers me that no one else notices the mistake.
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Thanks for that. Fixed!
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this month was pretty good!
the only two songs I’m still listening to are Top 5 and WYLD, but there are some more objective bangers that I just haven’t stuck with for whatever reason.
Now we can finally move on to June 😂 I’m beyond excited for Shinee and RIIZE comebacks (Shinee drops tonight!)
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Not a bad month, but still far off from April, but at least we have several 9+ rated songs
Top 3 is same as Nick
Also Nick, what do you think of SHINee’s Atmos based on the teaser?
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I’ve actually heard the full song from their concert but I’ll be a tease and keep my thoughts until tomorrow 🙂
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I think this month was a bit stronger than recent months, but it still lacked impact and creativity when compared to previous periods in K-pop
I have the impression that, in other eras, even releases considered weak managed to make a bigger impression on me than many of today’s highlights. Perhaps it’s a personal assessment, but I feel that some recent songs receive a more positive reception because of the fans’ enthusiasm for the artists rather than for their isolated musical merits
For example (sorry, guys), I couldn’t connect with BoyNextDoor’s Knock Knock Knock, and the most recent TWS releases, while nice, hardly get more than an 8 or 8.5 for me
I also acknowledge the possibility that my frequent exposure to music from previous generations is influencing my criteria and making my assessments more… demanding
Still, I don’t believe this is just nostalgia, especially since I’m not a particularly old person, I just feel a real difference between what excited me before and what’s being released recently. I think I need to separate things more
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Ok, I think I have to give ddok ddok ddok another chance because I also instantly disliked Bag Bad Back and Head Shoulders Knees Toes but eventually came around to them.
Nothing stood out for me this month but I’m curious to see what everyone’s halfway through the year top 10 list is next month!
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I knew Motto would be an easy 1st place for me as soon as they released the teaser LOL. I was so excited for it and they did not disappoint.
honorable mentions: LEMONADE – aespa, Lost In Proof – Heart Of Woman
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Motto – Itzy
All the possibilities – TWS
YOUNITE – Pose
damn the Sakurazaka46 songs are absolute bangers
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no mention of aespa? does this mean it’s below an 8 now?
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It’s sitting at an 8 and falling. We’ll see how things go…
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question: do u consider both sakurazaka46 songs this month to be a 9+? I found out Abt this group and am lwk obsessed with the songs
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Maybe? I haven’t assigned either a rating yet.
Make sure to check out “I Want Tomorrow To Come,” their best song imo.
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i’m kicking at myself for not getting into this group earlier. because what do you mean you can make a song THIS good??? from the ballad-like intro to the frantic high-energy verses that feel like it’s constantly building energy to the absolute knockout of a chorus that perfectly transitions from the pre-chorus to the absolutely beautiful ending, it feels absolutely perfect. Don’t even get me started on that extended instrumental break after the chorus, i love it when songs do that. It also shortens its second verse, which helps keep the energy high. i know this seems corny, but i got emotional when i heard this for the first time, and no other song has made me tear up besides from Nothing lasts forever by girls’ day. that’s how good it is.
anyways, thanks for the reccomendation, nick!
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My top three this month are Trophy by xikers, Told U So by HEART OF WOMAN and Coordinates by ONEWE.
I overall really enjoyed this month’s releases. KAJA’s EP was a highlight and a total surprise to me, SeeYa’s comeback made me nostalgic and the return of I.O.I got me super hype. So many soloists are also dropping good singles that it’s hard to keep up with. PRESENT by OYEON and Aurora by Park Hyun Kyu were especially great. Balming Tiger’s new full album isn’t K-pop, but their place in the industry is so necessary. It’s a breath of fresh air among the regurgitated soundscapes.
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I seriously don’t understand why everyone is gagging over lemonade. Overseas artists and lgbtq artists have been releasing this type of music for decades now(not to mention 10 times better) and the minute that aespa touches it everyone and their mother starts shaking in their boots making aespa out to be like gay pop queens or smth along those lines😭
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But switchblade is what I’m talking about, very good! 😍
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They may not have released the best song this month, but honestly for me this entire May has been defined by IOI. Their comeback rollout and promotions honestly lead me back to rewatching old clips from 2016 and I’ve been binging all the Produce performances and IOI variety appearances and I’ve relistened to their discography and even the members post IOI stuff. Seeing them return and be so passionate about being back together again was super endearing. I may have shed a tear or two for them especially on their last stage for M Countdown.
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also At The Same Place is and will always be that girl, Im so glad they performed it again at the concert.
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I know this is a bit harder since they’re too old for you to have reviewed most of their singles, but will TVXQ ever go on the ultimate artist ranking? I’m going through their discography now and I’d love to see where you’d place them!
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They certainly will! I plan to rank the five member and two member versions of the group separately, though.
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Makes sense. Looking forward to those posts!
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Lots of songs I liked this month.
BND- DdokDdockDdock
Xikers – Okay
ZB1 – Top 5
Honorables:
Younite – Pose!
TWS – All the Possibilities
NMixx- Crescendo / Heavy Serenade
Taeyong – Storm
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As someone who enjoyed part 1 of ONF’s 2nd album, I am so excited for part 2 to finally release later this month!
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