Before I move on to my J-pop and global pop countdowns over the next few days, I like to sum up the K-pop lists that have filled the past few weeks. The title of this post should technically be called “The Best Overall K-pop Comebacks & Debuts of 2025,” since not every album on this … Continue reading
Tag Archives: hybe
The Top 10 K-Pop Choreography of 2025
It’s time once again for someone who knows next to nothing about dance to rank his favorite dances of the year. As usual, I tend to prefer quirky, iconic moves to technically difficult material. The thing is, the vast majority of idol choreo has become so polished that it’s hard to choose which routines are … Continue reading
The Top 10 K-Pop Music Videos of 2025
For a moment, I debated whether or not to go forward with this particular countdown this year. Yes, K-pop music videos are generally great, but to be honest I just don’t watch them as intently as I used to. I’m much more familiar with the music than the visuals, which threatens to turn this list … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (December 28, 2025)
In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
2025 SBS Gayo Daejeon: Recap & My Top Performances
After KBS’s festival-that-didn’t-really-feel-like-a-festival last week, it’s time for the celebration to truly begin with SBS’s Gayo Daejeon. This is the show that airs every Christmas and usually features a ton of festive stages. It’s also held in a big venue with tons of artists in attendance, so it makes for a nice seasonal gift for … Continue reading
The Top K-Pop Albums of 2025: Mini Albums
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
The Top 10 K-Pop Artists of 2025
Though rookie groups defined this year in K-pop for me, that doesn’t mean there weren’t great things coming from the industry’s established artists as well. As usual, my criteria for these artists is built around these three factors: Quality of work Quantity of work Influence of work on the industry The first criteria far outweighs … Continue reading
2025 KBS Global Song Festival: Recap & My Top Performances
I’m back with a recap of K-Pop’s year-end festivals. As always, we’ve got events from KBS, SBS and MBC in that order. However, I wasn’t aware that KBS was saving their “Music Bank in Japan” special until December 30th so I’ll probably write about that one too. Honestly, I thought they’d just mash it together … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2025 (Day Five: 10-1)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
Song Review: Zico & Lilas (YOASOBI’s Ikura) – Duet
Zico has returned with a duet project, which isn’t unusual for him. Most of his recent success has been through pairings with female artists. Duet links him up him with YOASOBI’s Ikura (credited as Lilas) and straddles the line between K-pop, J-pop and global pop. In other words, it should be right within my wheelhouse! … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2025 (Day Four: 20-11)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2025 (Day Three: 30-21)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2025 (Day Two: 40-31)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2025 (Day One: 50-41)
The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday. To be eligible for this top 50 list, … Continue reading
2025 Year-End K-Pop Recap (& Honorable Mentions)
Tomorrow, The Bias List‘s comprehensive end-of-year countdowns will officially kick off with the first ten songs on my Top 50 countdown. Over the course of the next few weeks, you’ll get round-ups from every angle of K-pop: rookies, artists, b-sides, etc. I’ll also continue my tradition of recapping the industry’s year-end music festivals. In other … Continue reading
The Top Three K-Pop Songs of November 2025
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. November 2025 Overall Thoughts Though there’s still another month left of 2025, I always consider November … Continue reading
THIS WEEK IN K-POP: Ranking the New Releases from November 23 – 29
At the end of each month, I compile my top three K-pop title tracks and list a ton of honorable mentions. In 2025, I thought I’d try something new and add a weekly feature to supplement my monthly round-up. Each Sunday, I’ll offer a compendium of the week’s new releases featured on the blog. And … Continue reading
Song Review: ILLIT – Not Cute Anymore
Sometimes it takes a few songs for a group’s sound to totally click with me. I enjoyed ILLIT’s 2024 megahit Magnetic as much as anyone, but it wasn’t until this year’s fanciful Do The Dance that I totally understood what the group could be. Lately, their music has veered closer to third-gen groups like Lovelyz … Continue reading
New & Noteworthy J-pop of the Week (November 23, 2025)
In connection with my desire to fully keep up with the J-pop industry, I’m planning to do a weekly round-up of any new releases that have caught my ear. Some of these may have been covered on the blog already, but my hope is that this will become a one-stop shop for anyone interested in … Continue reading
K-Pop Risers & Fallers: November 2025
Rather than contain my “Risers and Fallers” feature to a single post in June, I’m going to share a bite-sized version at the end of each month. This will let me account for more songs and make a nice lead-in to the monthly round-up post. I anticipate most of these ratings adjustments will be negligible: … Continue reading