The Top 100 K-Pop Songs of 2020 (80 – 71)

It’s time to countdown my top 100 songs of 2020! 10 songs, everyday, for the next 10 days. The rules for the countdown are as follows:

To be eligible for this list, the song must have been released between the 1st of January 2020 and 15th December 2020.
Song must be paired with a full music video and be promoted to some extent.
Performance video’s (Gfriend’s Labyrinth and ONF’s New World) will unfortunately not be considered for the singles list and will make their appearance in the Top 100 B-sides of the year list.
Songs must be by a Korean artist and be in either Korean or English (Japanese / Chinese singles will get their own seperate countdown)
And finally, this is all just my opinion. There is much bias to be found and if you’re unhappy with any of the placements, just remember that this is not meant to be a purely objective list.

80. BDC – Shoot The Moon (review)

A fantastic combination of standard boy group tropes and more musically exciting elements, Shoot The Moon was a great next step for rookies BDC. The transcendent synth riff that anchors the post chorus is one of the years most riveting moments.

79. SoRi – Initial S

The emergence of retro synthpop within the kpop landscape has led to the development of many hidden gems and SoRi’s pulsing Initial S is certainly one of those. Powered by an addictive synth line and even stronger hook, the track embraced the genre whilst still retaining SoRi’s own image.

78. Wonho– Losing You (review)

After getting unjustifiably kicked out of Monsta X, Wonho marked his return to the music industry with the emotive Losing You. It’s a track that unveiled its charms over time, revealing the strength of its X-Japan style melody and arrangement over multiple listens. It also doesn’t hurt that the English lyrics don’t completely suck.

77. KEEMBO – Scandalous (review)

While the return of Sweetune in 2020 wasn’t as spectacular as I would have hoped, we still got some really great tracks. Chief amongst these was Keembo’s incredibly fun Scandalous which brought a healthy dose of rhythm guitar assisted pop to the rather downbeat early months of the year.

76. Cravity – Break All The Rules (review)

A striking debut for Starship’s newest boygroup, Break All The Rules bounds forward on its incredibly invigorating industrial instrumental and the charisma of its performers. The dance break is absolutely killer.

75. Nature – Girls (review)

A track that should have been Nature’s breakout moment, Girls is a brilliant combination of percussive haunting verses and a big bombastic drop. It was one of those tracks that got away with the instrumental drop trope and was further bolstered by some great promotion.

74. GFRIEND – Apple (review)

A shift into more sultry territory was not something many expected from GFRIEND but the striking Apple was a surefire success. Melding a more mature melody with some heavily filtered sound engineering, Apple supplied Gfriend’s discography with a track that felt both ethereal yet commanding.

73. Verivery – Lay Back (review)

Easily the strongest variant of Verivery’s darker material, the funk laced Lay Back ushered in a new era for a group that spent much of their debut year toying with a more bright soundscape. And with its rousing two part chorus, it was a fantastic choice to kickstart this transformation and remains one of 2020’s early successes.

72. Chungha – Play / Stay Tonight (review) / (review)

Chungha had an incredible 2020 and while both the festive Play and dance hall inspired Stay Tonight have many individual charms, it was very difficult for me to seperate them. So in the end, it just seemed right to group both of her main comebacks for the year. I can’t wait to see what she has in store for us in 2021.

71. Siyeon (Dreamcatcher) – Paradise (review)

Dreamcatcher had a real breakout year and it all started back in January with main vocalist Siyeon’s edm fused Paradise. It carries all the hallmarks of a great LEEZ, Ollounder single, building from reserved, melodic verses into an incredibly bombastic centrepiece. From the outside it seems like your average pop-edm single but Siyeon’s excellent vocals help elevate the track into something much more.