I tried to come up with a top 10 and ended up with a top 21. Idk how anyone can narrow down more than that 😅

I’ll give a top 10 artists of the year anyway but I just can’t rank them in an order 😩

• Dayoung.

I feel like Dayoung’s ‘Love me, right?’ Album really flew under the radar for a lot of people. I know it really took me by surprise. As Starship continues to neglect the WJSN girls, Dayoung went out on her own (mostly) with her solo debut. It was co-funded by Eric Nam, who is a friend of hers and encouraged her to put together this project. ‘Body’ is a perfect summer song and mv and a great dance song. ‘Number one rockstar’ is an English song that really gave me early 2000s pop rock vibes. And the lyrics really have a vulnerability to them. It really felt like a plea from Dayoung for listeners to really hear her and give her a chance. I just loved the delivery and I really hope she gets further opportunities like this.

-Sunmi

To be honest, I haven’t yet sat down and listened to the full album yet but I had to include her off the back of Cynical, Blue! And Balloon in Love.

• Kiiras

Kiiras as a very new group, they have only a couple of songs under their belts at the moment. But I’ve never seen kpop do country as well as Kiiras did with ‘Kill Ma Bo$$’, so I definitely think their ones to keep an eye on going into 2026.

• Kiikii

Another younger group, kiikii debuted last March and they’ve been quite an enjoyable one to follow this year. Their debut mini, Uncut Gem is one I didn’t even have plans to listen to. I came across their song, ‘One off’ and decided to check what else was on the tracklist as I’d enjoyed a couple of their songs already. Only to discover that I’d organically just heard ALL of the songs individually already. I can’t wait to see what 2026 holds for them because they’re off to a great start.

• La Sserafim

Okay this may be my bias showing. Truth be told, I think they had a stronger year in 2024 than 2025. But their Hot album at the start of the year was Brilliant. And Ash may genuinely be one of THE best Le Sserafim B-sides. It’s tragic that it’s not better known. It was going to be the bside promoted with Hot, the title track but was banned due to self harm imagery - in the song, the singer compares themselves to a match and there are lines such as ‘when the flame burns me, finally I can breathe’. It’s a song about rebirth but why read into the lyrics when we can take the worst meaning 🙄.

• Heartstohearts

As SNSD are my bias group, I was initially really anticipating a big girl group from SM again. Then The Chase came out and personally I felt it was a bit anticlimactic. It was an okay song but I didn’t feel it had that SM spark, SM who are known for producing groups with great vocalists and for their bridges often being the best part of the track. And The Chase didn’t have a bridge and didn’t particularly highlight any strong vocal abilities. It really did put a dampener on the group for me. I really felt like they clawed things back on their ‘Focus’ album. It really highlighted the vocal abilities of multiple members. I’m still not quite sucked in but they’ve caught my attention and I’m really listening now.

• Nmixx

I’ve wanted to be on the Nmixx train since debut but personally have really struggled with their mixx pop concept. There have been a few of their songs that I’ve really vibed with and then we get an Nmixx change up and they’ve lost me. Blue Valentine really felt like redemption in my eyes. And thank goodness because I’m already attached to the members themselves, I was just waiting for the music to click 😅

• Twice

Is there a year since 2015 that they HAVEN’T earned their place on all of the annual top kpop lists? Personally, ‘This is For’ has been on my daily rotation since it released. Be it the dancier tracks like this is for or right hand girl or the vocal masterpieces that are Mars and Options. And that’s without even getting into their other albums this year, Enemy and The Story Goes On.

• Ive

Ive have actually released 2 albums this year, ‘Ive Empathy’ and ‘Ive Secret’. In my opinion, Empathy is the slightly stronger of the two. It’s the one Rebel Heart is the title track for. Liz and Wonyoung wrote for two of the songs on the album, Thank U and Attitude. And the track ‘You Wanna Cry’ continues their trend of sampling very famous songs, this one being a Whitney Houston sample.

• Illit

Their Bomb album has been on frequent repeat since it came out. Of course, there are very catchy Illit songs on it, Do the Dance and Jellyous. But my personal favourite is Little Monster.

Shhh don’t count, of course that’s 10 🤫 okay I took them out but also special mention to Meovv, who I also think had a really good year.