Year-End List Recap: The Best Overall K-Pop Comebacks of 2024

Before I move on to J-pop, global pop and other categories, I like to sum up the K-pop countdowns that have filled the past few weeks. The title of this post should technically be called “The Best Overall K-pop Comebacks & Debuts of 2024,” since not every album on this list marks the return of an artist. However, that’s a bit wordy.

This list takes five categories and gives them a weighted rank. First place gets ten points, second place gets nine, tenth place gets one and anything below that counts as one point each. Once all these numbers are added up, I’m able to rank my top picks on a points-based system. Think of this as the grand prize (daesang), given out by The Bias List each year.

It’s clear that 2024 was all about a small group of albums/comebacks for me, as the top three on this list all set records for their number of points. Previous to today, the highest points a comeback ever received was 37! There were also three repeat artists from 2023.

Here are the countdowns I included as part of this aggregate:

Top 50 Songs

Top 10 Albums

Top 10 Music Videos

Top 10 Choreography

Top 40 B-Sides

2024 END-OF-YEAR MASTERPOST

Honorable Mentions

8 Points: aespa – Armageddon, TVXQ – Zone
7 Points: TRENDZ – Go Up, The Wind – Hello, My First Love

8 (tie). ZEROBASEONE – Cinema Paradise

Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 5 points
Music Video: 0 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 3 points
TOTAL: 9

8 (tie). Young Posse – Ate That

Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 0 points
Music Video: 8 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 0 points
TOTAL: 9

7. TWS – Last Bell

Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 0 points
Music Video: 10 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 2 points
TOTAL: 13

6. The Wind – Our Youth:Teen

Title track(s): 1 point
Album: 6 points
Music Video: 0 points
Choreography: 0 points
B-Sides: 7 points
TOTAL: 14

5. Nayeon – NA

Title track(s): 3 points
Album: 0 points
Music Video: 9 points
Choreography: 6 points
B-Sides: 0 points
TOTAL: 18

4. BOYNEXTDOOR – How?

Title track(s): 2 points
Album: 7 points
Music Video: 6 points
Choreography: 3 points
B-Sides: 11 points
TOTAL: 29

3. TWS – Summer Beat!

Title track(s): 17 points
Album: 8 points
Music Video: 10 points
Choreography: 5 points
B-Sides: 4 points
TOTAL: 44

2. RIIZE – RIIZING

Title track(s): 15 points
Album: 10 points
Music Video: 0 points
Choreography: 17 points
B-Sides: 6 points
TOTAL: 48

1. TWS – Sparkling Blue

Title track(s): 10 points
Album: 9 points
Music Video: 10 points
Choreography: 17 points
B-Sides: 10 points
TOTAL: 56