This year, I’m breaking my “Top Albums” list into two: one focused on full-length albums and one focused on minis. For the mini album category, things get a bit repetitive because many of the year’s strongest acts released multiple projects and I don’t limit myself to spotlighting just one. As far as qualifications, I consider … Continue reading
I’m going to try something a little different this year. I have a number of albums I want to spotlight and it doesn’t seem fair to compare full-length projects to mini albums. So, I’ll have a countdown for each. Today, I’ll share my top five full-length albums of the year and tomorrow I’ll post my … Continue reading
It’s a bit bleak over here, ladies and gentlemen. Over the years there have been many times where I’ve been more enamored with the quality of J-pop’s output than K-pop, but 2025 is not one of those years. In fact, there are fewer highlights than I can ever remember at this time of the year … Continue reading
Similar to last year, 2025 so far has been a singles game rather than a series of excellent albums. I have even fewer on my list than I did this time last year, and only one of them is a full album — though that classification is getting murkier as time goes on. There are … Continue reading
While Astro’s Dream Pt.1 was never specifically promoted as a “summer” album, it’s one of the K-pop projects I most closely associate with the season and was released just before one of K-pop’s most epic summers in 2017. More importantly, it’s incredibly strong and represents a bubbly, ultra-melodic pop sound we just don’t hear much … Continue reading
K-pop has been a singles-driven market for awhile now, but that only seems to be truer with each passing year. Either comebacks don’t have enough songs to be called an “album,” or the b-sides are clearly designed to pad a tracklist rather than stand out on their own. With that said, there were a handful … Continue reading
To round out my mid-year countdowns, I’ve got a spotlight on some of my favorite songs and albums from music markets that aren’t Korea or Japan. To simplify things, I just call this category “pop.” What were your favorite singles and albums during the first half of 2024? TOP SINGLES Bentley Robles – IAM IAM … Continue reading
While K-pop has been consistently above average this year, my J-pop fortunes haven’t been so bright. It’s a real turnaround from this time last year, when I was able to feature fifteen beloved tracks. The choices were more limited this time, but it’s still worth pointing out some stellar work from a few favorites. What … Continue reading
While 2024 has delivered quite a few standout singles so far, I haven’t been as blown over by the albums. Still, I was surprised how many I was able to cobble together. Unlike in the past, I’m not distinguishing between mini and full albums, though albums must have at least four full songs to be … Continue reading
By now, Bias List readers know that I wasn’t thrilled with this year in K-pop, and part of that rests on the strength (or lack thereof) of albums. I could barely find any full K-pop albums I loved this year, meaning the structure of this countdown has changed a bit. I still think it’s unfair … Continue reading
After several years listening almost exclusively to K-pop, I’m in a fun space where my playlist is open to any music from any country. This brings added focus to global pop, which I feature on the blog each month. And now that global pop has its own year-end countdown on the blog, I thought I’d … Continue reading
I’m pretty obsessed with this list of singles and albums. I’ve been a J-pop fan for almost a decade now, but this year I’ve made a concerted effort to really dive deeply into the industry. Part of this initiative includes weekly J-pop round-ups that are posted every Sunday on this blog. My efforts have been … Continue reading
To be honest, there haven’t been many K-pop albums in 2023 that I’ve played more than a couple times through. Similar to my singles list yesterday, nearly all of these picks come with some qualifiers. However, there are a more than a few gems to uncover. *As usual, albums must have at least four full … Continue reading
K-pop history is stuffed with great albums, and there’s only so many Buried Treasures and Battle of the B-sides features available to cover all these noteworthy tracks. The album format has always been special to me. Whether it’s a full-length or mini, albums have the opportunity to tell stories and develop an act’s personal style. … Continue reading
Compared to 2021, this year definitely felt weaker when it comes to albums. Mini albums faired better than full-lengths, but apart from a few mega-standouts, most K-pop releases took a piecemeal approach to their music — too often stuffing tracklists with a horde of different producers rather than settling on one unique vision. Like usual, … Continue reading
Yesterday, I struck a disappointed note when rounding up this year’s strongest singles, and this albums list is going to be quite similar. 2022 has delivered some decent albums so far, but nothing close to a My Name/City Of ONF, Don’t Call Me/Atlantis, YES, Summer Queen, Gatcha or The Chaos Chapter: Freeze. In fact, I’m … Continue reading
K-pop history is stuffed with great albums, and there’s only so many Buried Treasures and Battle of the B-sides features available to cover all these noteworthy tracks. The album format has always been special to me. Whether it’s a full-length or mini, albums have the opportunity to tell stories and develop an act’s personal style. … Continue reading
K-pop history is stuffed with great albums, and there’s only so many Buried Treasures and Battle of the B-sides features available to cover all these noteworthy tracks. The album format has always been special to me. Whether it’s a full-length or mini, albums have the opportunity to tell stories and develop an act’s personal style. … Continue reading
2021 offered quite a few strong albums, enough for both of my categories to include numerous honorable mentions. Full albums were especially great this year — a trend I hope to see continue in 2022. Like usual, my top ten list is cut in half, presenting the top five mini albums and the top five … Continue reading
K-pop history is stuffed with great albums, and there’s only so many Buried Treasures and Battle of the B-sides features available to cover all these noteworthy tracks. The album format has always been special to me. Whether it’s a full-length or mini, albums have the opportunity to tell stories and develop an act’s personal style. … Continue reading
The Bias List // K-Pop Reviews & Discussion 