The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of All Time: Honorable Mentions

Readers, over the past two months, I have worked to create a list of my favorite K-Pop Songs of All Time. For over ten years, I have enjoyed K-Pop, seeing it blossom into a global genre with millions and millions of adoring fans. I have found K-Pop songs I love, made friends over the genre, and seen legacies built over the years. Some of the songs that have made me feel the most are from K-Pop. Given all I have felt and seen, I thought it was finally time to create a ranking of my favorite K-Pop songs of all time.

I don't claim this ranking is perfect, no ranking of this can be perfect. I can only claim that I did my best to provide my personal opinion, with my personal biases, from my years of enjoying Korean music. There are many more boy band songs than girl group (I just prefer their general soundscape), and many songs come from the second generation (2005-2013).

In a way, K-Pop is a bit of a misnomer here. I have included Korean songs outside of the idol sphere, and songs released nearly a century ago. The end result is a list full of songs that left their mark on me. I hope you, the reader, enjoy this list. You may (and almost certainly won't) agree with my ranking, but that is what makes a personal list like this so wonderful.

With that said, let us enter the rules and regulations for what has been qualified as K-Pop for this list.

• Any musical piece released in South Korea, or any of its direct predecessor states, AND/OR is predominantly in the Korean language, Jejuan, or any of their dialects.
• The musical piece must be lyrical in nature.
• Any song, single, or b-side, is eligible.
• This list is MY personal opinion.
• Song rankings may have changed since previous lists and/or reviews.
• The criterion for "the greatest" is a mix of my personal experience, the overall songwriting (lyrically, compositionally, and performance-wise), and the influence of the track in question.
• A song refers to a particular recording of the track and not the basic composition.
• Only one entry per composition.

With all this said. The list will begin tomorrow. For songs 100-11, they will be grouped into daily posts of 10 (100-91, 90-81, etc.). For the top 10, however, each song would get a post of its own.

I hope all of you enjoy this list over the days! Please give your thoughts in the comments, and I will gladly reply when free.

Support 10/10 - Music and Purchase Your K-Pop Albums Right Here

125. Lee Jeong Sook - Thinking of Elder Brother (1930)

124. TVXQ - Tri-Angle Ft. BoA, Trax (2004)

123. The Ark - The Light (2015)

122. T-ARA - Roly Poly (2011)

121. BTS - Blood, Sweat, and Tears (2016)

120. Girls' Generation - Girls' Generation (2007)

119. Sugar - Secret (2004)

118. 1Punch - Turn Me Back (2015)

117. BTS - I Need U (2015)

116. Seo Taiji and Boys - You, In the Fantasy (1992)

115. SHINee - Good Evening (2018)

114. Primary - Don't Be Shy Ft. ChoA, Iron (2015)

113. SHINee - Juliette (2009)

112. H.O.T. - Age of Violence (1996)

111. Super Junior - Mr. Simple (2011)

110. f(x) - Nu Abo (2010)

109. N.EX.T - Lazenca, Save Us (1997)

108. SHINee - Hello (2010)

107. NU'EST - Face (2012)

106. Taemin - Move (2017) 

105. Bigbang - Let's Not Fall in Love (2015)

104. Xia Junsu - OeO Ft. Giriboy (2015)

103. TXT - 0X1 = Lovesong (I Know I Love You) Ft. Seori (2021)

102. Yves - New (2017)

101. 100% - Bad Boy (2012)

Next: 100-91

Image: All rights belong to their respective owners.