The Top 50 K-Pop Songs of 2024 (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, songs must have had a Korean release as a title track, follow-up or promotional video between Dec. 1st, 2023 and Nov. 30th, 2024.

Curious about past countdowns? Check out the masterpost here!

Honorable Mentions

Songs 50-41

Songs 40-31

30. DXMON – Girls, Love Boys, Love Girls

After an early-2024 debut marked by swaggering hip-hop, this gorgeous drum and bass track wafted in like a pleasant spring breeze. The falsetto-kissed chorus is everything. (full review)

29. ITZY – Untouchable

ITZY had a strong year and opened with their most powerful blow. Untouchable‘s beat recalls clanging machinery, rumbling with addictive force. (full review)

28. Young Posse – Ate That

I’ll always be biased toward nineties hip-hop, even if the song in question is little more than a pastiche. Ate That hits its goal and then some, offering a jolt of cartoonish energy buoyed by car rattling bass. (full review)

27. DKB – Flirting X

DKB earn their first placing on this countdown with a dynamic summer track that showcases their vocals. The ad-libs that pepper the bulk of Flirting X are absolutely brilliant and give it such spice. (full review)

26. BABYMONSTER – Forever

I’d be lying if I said Forever wasn’t here simply because it reminds me of better YG Entertainment songs of the past, but play count data doesn’t lie and I played the hell out of this during the summer of 2024. I love Forever‘s brand of Eurodance cheese. (full review)

25. The Wind – Hello, My First Love

My top rookies of 2023 didn’t disappoint this year. Hello, My First Love echoes melodies of K-pop’s past, standing as the group’s sweetest track yet. Puppy love sounds good on them. (full review)

24. RIIZE – Love 119

You all know I bristle immediately after hearing a chanted boy group chorus, which explains my lackluster response to Love 119 initially. But then Sohee comes in with those ridiculously satisfying power notes during the song’s finale and all musical sins are forgiven. (full review)

23. Just B – Daddy’s Girl

Many groups tried their hand at a pop-punk sound this year, but I found Just B’s 5-Seconds-Of-Summer-esque Daddy’s Girl to be the most over-the-top fun of the bunch. To be clear, it’s their silly explicit version that earns this spot on the list. (full review)

22. ZEROBASEONE – Good So Bad

Good So Bad‘s chorus is like cotton candy, spun from sugar and resulting in an instant head rush. The group is at their best when leaning into this melodic magic, and that approach cements their highest year-end placement yet. (full review)

21. YOUNITE – Geekin

I don’t believe in “guilty pleasures,” but if I did Geekin would be my 2024 choice. The song is relentlessly stupid in the best possible way, earning its glories through a brilliant hip-hop beat and some of the most ridiculous lyrical conceits of the year. (full review)