The top of the 12 months countdowns are lastly right here! As all the time, we’ll kick off with the large one: The Bias Checklist’s prime 50 songs of the 12 months! Every day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the 12 months’s greatest, till primary is revealed on Friday. 

To be eligible for this prime 50 record, songs will need to have had a Korean launch as a title observe, follow-up or promotional video between Dec. 1st, 2022 and Nov. thirtieth, 2023.

Interested in previous countdowns? Try the masterpost right here!

Honorable Mentions
SONGS 50-41
SONGS 40-31
SONGS 30-21
SONGS 20-11

10. TAN – Heartbeat

There’s a method of crunchy electro dance that peaked within the early 2010’s when SHINee (and by extension, SM Leisure) have been lodged of their bombastic complextro period. Since then, we hear it each as soon as and awhile – principally by way of the work of producers 1Take and TAK. This 12 months, TAN turned the unlikely wielders of this mighty synth crunch, throwing down an intense exercise with Heartbeat. Initially, the tune leaves you pondering it might fizzle right into a wordless drop refrain, however the guys counterattack with a vocal punch each bit as robust because the surging electronics underfoot. (full assessment)

9. Key – Killer

Whereas Ok-pop idol teams are sometimes on the behest of agency-led sounds and ideas, soloists appear to be afforded extra artistic management – particularly if that soloist is somebody as lauded as SHINee’s Key. He is aware of his strengths and his musical style, which supplies songs like Killer a welcome dose of persona. It could be the umpteenth synthwave observe we’ve heard just lately in Ok-pop, however Key transforms it right into a psychodrama all his personal. By the point we careen into Killer’s hovering bridge, he’s acquired us precisely the place he desires us. (full assessment)

8. The Boyz – Lip Gloss

Sunny, summertime fare usually will get dismissed as little greater than pop fluff – simple, singalong melodies with none weight behind them. However as Ok-pop has confirmed time and time once more, it may be a lot tougher honing your bubblegum hooks to a advantageous sheen than merely stomping round, puffing your chest and declaring your personal prowess. Lip Gloss is aware of its personal silliness, inviting listeners right into a dayglo get together the place the chintziness is a function, not a bug. It takes a ton of persona to promote this idea, however The Boyz careen by way of the observe with an easy smile on their faces. (full assessment)

7. U-KISS – The Fantastic Escape

Of all of the second-gen acts making a long-awaited comeback this summer time, I might not have anticipated U-KISS to be the one taking pictures all the way in which to the highest of my record. They did so by embracing a sound listeners love from them, belting sky-high melodies with the panache of veteran performers. The Fantastic Escape is likely one of the largest-sounding songs of the 12 months – as if the producers took a hear to numerous instrumental loops and thought it higher to easily shove each single one into the combination. This brute pressure may simply overpower, nevertheless it’s a testomony to U-KISS that their efficiency cuts by way of, main the cost with a triumphant notice of resilience. (full assessment)

6. The Wind – Summer season Trip

The summer time season ended up being a boon for this 12 months in Ok-pop. Lots of my favourite tracks have been tied to those months, and none feels extra inextricable than The Wind’s Summer season Trip. The tune takes their GFriend-esque sound to its pure peak, putting sturdy melodies on prime of resounding percussion. Every time the hovering refrain emerges, it’s as if the clouds have parted to disclose a beam of sensible daylight. That sense of expansiveness has all the time been one in every of pop music’s biggest joys, and the boys take it even additional through the observe’s double power-note climax. A gaggle this younger has no proper being this good!

Sadly, Summer season Trip might also act as a denouement to this sound, as principal vocal Jaewon has left the group this month. Why can’t we’ve good issues, Ok-pop?? (full assessment)

5. SHINee – The Feeling

I’ll not have been very taken with SHINee’s 2023 comeback total, however they led off with their strongest materials. The Feeling is a pure successor to View and Good Night (each prime 5 entries throughout their respective years), delivering euphoric summer time vibes whereas showcasing the members’ particular person tones and pure proclivity towards a dramatic vocal flourish. The skittery percussion through the refrain is the trendiest ingredient you’ll discover in my prime ten, however The Feeling’s fireworks show of a climax (full with muted brass accents and belt-it-out refrains) is completely timeless. (full assessment)

4. Golden Little one – Really feel Me

Final 12 months’s chart-topping group solely had one probability to land on this 12 months’s record, however generally all it takes is that single shot. With Really feel Me, Golden Little one proceed their run of melodic, emotionally resonant pop. This time, their sound is given a rock makeover well-suited to the group’s roster of robust vocalists, cresting in a cathartic refrain that stands as one of the satisfying moments on this 12 months of Ok-pop. There’s nothing higher than nice payoff in a pop tune, and Really feel Me cements its enchantment by constructing its complete existence round a chorus you wish to revisit many times. (full assessment)

3. RIIZE – Get A Guitar

You may forged the time period “earworm” in a constructive or damaging gentle. At its worst, it turns into that treacly business jingle lodged in your mind once you’re attempting to go to sleep. However at its most potent, an earworm ends in a tune like RIIZE’s Get A Guitar – a chunk of music that solely grows extra addictive and lovable with time. Past the sheer novelty of a brand new Ok-pop group debuting with one thing this effervescent, Guitar’s taut body feels laser-focused on wringing each ounce of attraction from every strum of its guitar. Buoyed by joyful harmonies and playful phrasing, this observe by no means did not put a smile on my face. It already appears like a traditional – infinitely hummable however by no means cloying. (full assessment)

2. IVE – I Am

I Am appears like a prizefighter amongst songs, coming at you with every part it has. It fulfills the unbelievable promise showcased throughout IVE’s debut 12 months, scaling new heights with an ever-expanding sense of urgency.

Whereas a lot of their friends opted for sing-talk angle or hazy, understated grace, IVE strapped on their boxing gloves and tackled this behemoth of a pop tune. I Am segues from one melodic spotlight to the following, feinting and attacking with utter confidence. From the damn-near dolphin pitch of its pre-chorus to the harmonic wallop that divides verse two, the melodic vary feels as limitless because the members’ charisma.

Nevertheless it’s not till we attain I Am’s remaining refrain that this tune actually earns its spot in Ok-pop’s corridor of fame. It’s the payoff of all payoffs – a knockout blow bolstered by guitar and delivered with a figuring out strut. It makes listeners really feel as if they will leap over skyscrapers and break by way of brick partitions, and that sense of real empowerment won’t ever exit of favor. (full assessment)

1. NINE.i – Flip It Off

Other than a quantity 9 slot on final 12 months’s rookie record, NINE.i’ve by no means appeared on any countdown earlier than. However by teaming up with the always-excellent producers Sweetune, they delivered the 12 months’s largest jolt of pop euphoria.

I spent a lot of the 12 months complaining about Ok-pop’s lack of melodic vary. We’ve been mired in flat sing-talk for therefore lengthy that you can simply overlook how riveting a killer melody may be. Flip It Off gained’t allow you to overlook, unveiling one kaleidoscopic hook after one other. The curve of this melody doesn’t all the time land the place you’d count on it to, which is a part of the fun. Concepts bounce off concepts, colliding in explosions of musical pixie mud. Little or no of Flip If Off seems like anything in 2023, and these idiosyncrasies give it musical perspective you simply can’t get from tune camps or company suppose tanks.

NINE.i provide a lot of the tune’s character, using their distinct tones to intensify its colourful enchantment. And when their efficiency meets the surging swell of Sweetune’s funhouse manufacturing, we get a collection of choruses that really feel like mana from pop heaven. Flip It Off’s excessive factors sweep you off your toes with a way of transcendent launch, doling out mini climaxes throughout its complete working time. These moments didn’t come too usually in Ok-pop this 12 months, however they have been all of the sweeter once they did. (full assessment)