The 25 Best K-Pop Songs of 2025: Staff Picks

This SM Entertainment girl group is a relatively new one, having just debuted in February. Despite that, the eight-member group hit the ground running, producing banger track after banger track. “Style” was the second single the group released following their debut, “The Chase,” which lured audiences in with its dreamy sounds and visuals similar to NewJeans. “The Chase” was a tough act to follow, but “Style” knocked it out of the park with its clean production and nostalgic and refreshing bubblegum pop sound. It’s a toe-tapper for sure, and one we’ve had on repeat since its June release. – AMINA AYOUD

Released on BTS‘s 12th debut anniversary, “Killin’ It Girl” celebrates beauty merged with achievement. A minimal rhythm section creates space for j-hope‘s percussive delivery while layered synths build toward an addictive chorus. GloRilla completes the narrative with an authentic perspective through her distinctive Memphis flow. Reaching No. 3 on Billboard Global 200 and No. 1 on Digital Song Sales, the track captures a moment where success itself reads as beautiful—something j-hope understands instinctively. – BILLBOARD KOREA

A cinematic band-pop showcase for Stray Kids‘ most lyrical vocal pairing. Lee Know and Seungmin frame gratitude from multiple angles—as observers, performers and audience—reflecting on their journey. Thunderous percussion locks into listeners’ pulses while building layers create emotional progression beyond traditional ballad structure. After Stray Kids’ blockbuster success, this reflective pause acts as a quiet note to fans and themselves. – Billboard Korea

LE SSERAFIM are way too hot, crazy and fearless to get hung up on dancing alone. Then again, sometimes girls just want to have fun. This ’60s-styled ditty from British collective Jungle sees the five plucky stars head-bopping and shoulder-shrugging (à la Fosse, no less) to a jittery funk/bossa-nova concoction; it seems to ask who’s going to match their freak on the floor. “Oh, I know you want to take my hand / Come over, come over and dance,” the members casually beckon. Honestly, it feels like an honor just to snag the invite. – ABBY WEBSTER

The seven-member JYP boy group’s title track from their third mini album My First Flip fuses youthful energy with rock velocity, channeling pop-punk’s raw spirit. The composition mirrors romantic awakening: hesitation giving way to sudden acceleration, rough-edged but sincere moments capturing innocent first love. Having played Lollapalooza six months after debut, their band-format approach signals many more live instrument performances to come. – Billboard Korea

The YG Entertainment boy band celebrated its fifth anniversary this year and a single like “YELLOW” shows how they continue to innovate to remain just as competitive as their juniors. While new boy bands broke out in the K-pop scene (and onto Billboard‘s year-end charts) this year thanks to a refreshingly bright and approachable energy, TREASURE delivered the charm tenfold on this feel-good pop track reminiscent of previous YG megahit “Love Scenario” by iKON from 2018. But with lyrics by members Asahi, Choi Hyun Suk, Yoshi and Haruto, and the song co-composed by Asahi, it’s clear the TREASURE boys themselves are at the core of their creations. – JEFF BENJAMIN 

aespa is no stranger to the Billboard charts, especially when it comes to album sales. This year alone they became the first K-pop girl group to have six projects reach the Billboard 200 top 50. Their big year only got bigger with a win for Group of the Year at Billboard Women in Music 2025. “Dirty Work” dropped in late June and capitalized on the girl group’s “girl crush” concept. It’s a track unlike anything we’ve heard from aespa before, focused mainly on conversational singing or “speech-singing” rather than utilizing the group’s powerhouse vocals via Winter and Ning Ning. It’s a grungy entry with heavy distorted bass, glitchy synths and an earworm chorus that we can’t stop singing. – A.A. 

For those of us just tuning in after JUSTB member Bain’s historic coming out this summer, what a joy it was to discover that the underdog boy group had already released one of 2025’s best produced K-pop songs. In the same vein as works from inspirations Charli xcx, SOPHIE and 2hollis, exquisite hyperpop banger “CHEST” masks its tenderly beating heart — “Come take my soul away, that’s all I have left / When I come home, you can sleep on my chest” — with walls of electronic noise, proving how that unlikely combo can make for the most simpatico of bedfellows. – A.W.

This ’90s-esque track features powerful raps blended with a decidedly calm segue to jazz at the one 1:24 mark, changing up the vibe completely. The switch-up is a refreshing pause from the aggressive yell-rap the girls produce, before its return around the 1:40 mark. It’s another fresh take on the hip-hop genre that focuses primarily on rap, rather than vocals, making YOUNG POSEE a standout among the slew of girl groups active today. While the group hasn’t made an appearance on Billboard’s charts just yet, this track certainly has us paying attention. – A.A. 

Upon BLACKPINK dropping their long-awaited comeback single, co-producer Diplo celebrated with an Instagram shot with him and the girls, sharing, “Of course when the beautiful BLACKPINK ladies asked me to make a K-pop techno trance hardcore summer banger I said ‘뛰어’ [JUMP]!” The collaboration couldn’t have been a more apt pairing with BP’s signature fierceness mashed with Teddy’s pop-perfect melodies, all elevated with a twist of trance that shook stadiums across the DEADLINE World Tour. 

“JUMP” became BLACKPINK’s longest-charting hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and Pop Airplay charts, and with a rumored new album for early next year, we can only hope for the superstars deliver more innovation and, subsequently, new chart records. – J.B.

In a landscape of new boy groups built on hip-hop-infused brightness, “EVERGLOW” arrives with alternative rock and heavy metal weight. The post-chorus intensifies as distortion surges, breaking into gritty territory. This is a resilience anthem: strength forged through pressure, renewal born from challenge. Few 2025 releases carry this raw intensity. – Billboard Korea

IVE‘s cryptic offering communicates emotional depth without spelling anything out. The chorus’ low-register rap contrasts sharply with high, floating melodies, creating sophisticated tension. Heavy 808s, brass accents and precise drums establish a solid foundation while restrained vocals amplify every emotional shift. IVE’s signature exploration of “I” evolves into something more coded yet direct, making it all the more alluring. The encrypted title may seem obscure, but their self-possessed attitude speaks clearly: asking for everything, with total confidence. – Billboard Korea

“Maybe Tomorrow” hits to the core of DAY6’s comfort-rock DNA: warm acoustic textures, uplifting melodies and Young K’s consoling lyricism that promises small hope amid uncertainty. While DAY6 celebrated 10 years together in September with their appropriately titled The DECADE album, “Maybe Tomorrow” served as a musical comfort item for listeners amid the chaos of 2025, further solidifying DAY6 as K-pop’s leading rock band. — J.B.

“Plot Twist” served as the title track of AtHeart’s debut EP of the same name, and it’s a soft but mighty entry to say the least. This is a subdued bop with an EDM/pop influence and a haunting almost empty electronic chorus that leaves you wanting more. The staccato beat and monotone delivery march along throughout the track, creating a dizzying melody that repeats again and again. It’s the perfect earworm to kick off the girl group’s EP, setting the tone for their future releases. – A.A. 

KISS OF LIFE’s title track from their fourth mini album 224 uses sensuous, 2000s-styled R&B to create a tactile dreamscape. Kick and snare hit hard at a medium tempo, with delicate hi-hats adding hip-hop influence—their core identity. The chorus, built on intimate, physical phrases, becomes sophisticated through the four members’ channeled sensuality. Fresh off their first world tour, the group’s commitment to R&B through a K-pop lens reads as an artistic statement rooted in confidence. – Billboard Korea

Forgoing beat drops and chant-heavy choruses, “Summer Was You” embraced a guitar-led, nostalgic pop that sounded like sun-soaked memories, set to a three-wave chorus with its best moments bringing all four members’ voices together. While H1-KEY sits squarely among K-pop’s newer-generation girl groups, “Summer Was You” helped define them as an act that can embrace the chorus-first approach to seasonal hits that defines nostalgic classics of the first- and second-generation K-pop scene. – J.B.

“Lemon Drop” is a more mature, stripped-down R&B track from ATEEZ, a group well-known for blending the genre with trap, EDM and hip-hop. It’s a distinctly cool and lax track, in contrast to some of the boy band’s boisterous hits like “BOUNCY” and “Crazy Form.” The song was dropped in the heat of the summer, but is decidedly not your usual upbeat, feel-good fare–rather, a head-nodding entry with the same swagger and confidence as the group’s 2024 hit “Ice on My Teeth.” – A.A.

A pre-release single following the girl group’s debut EP Uncut Gem, which dropped in March, “I DO ME” is a dreamy pop track with vocals that swell and build to a catchy but stripped-down chorus led by the English phrasing “I do me, I do me right.” It’s a hopeful and groovy track that’s softer than some of the other entries on this list. Listening along makes us feel like we’re strolling through a grassy clearing, crisp spring breeze whipping through our hair. – A.A. 

Since TEN‘s first introduction as an NCT member nearly a decade ago, the Thai superstar has become known as one of K-pop’s most creative and experimental performers. With a genre-hopping, shape-shifting and polyphonic production, “STUNNER” feels like his boldest showcase yet of his many gifts, both in the song and the choreo-heavy music video.

Three-and-a-half minutes isn’t that short amid the TikTok-ification of song lengths, but even that feels too little time to allow TEN to show off the extent of all he’s capable of, both as a storyteller through dance and singing as he flickers between open vulnerability and club-ready confidence. With the 29-year-old’s next solo album already rumored for release early next year, we’re eagerly waiting for the next chapter from a star so ready to shake up the global stage. — J.B.

DAYOUNG reintroduces herself through a performance-forward identity, achieving a fresh departure from her WJSN years. Sharp beats and a muscular bassline provide immediate impact, anchored by a concise, addictive hook. Her bright, assured vocal creates a clean, summery pop-dance track driven by conviction. – Billboard Korea

“Like JENNIE” is a two-minute flex of the BLACKPINK star’s pop culture dominance: Diplo’s metallic hybrid of baile funk and phonk gives JENNIE an aggressive landscape to serve some of the sharpest raps of her solo career — in both Korean and English — centered around a self-referential hook that doubles as a personal manifesto.

This song broke barriers to become the longest-charting track from her solo album Ruby on both the Billboard Hot 100 and Pop Airplay chart — longevity not typically seen for a song with an entire verse in Korean, but most of those songs aren’t delivered by 2025’s It Girl JENNIE. Beyond the chart stats, this single distilled JENNIE’s celebrity into a short, savage and precisely produced statement single to amplify her rise to this special solo moment. Perhaps even more crucially, “like JENNIE” demonstrates how K-pop stars can infuse their personas into widely accessible hits without diluting their identity. – J.B.

Cho Seung-youn, otherwise known as WOODZ, made a big splash with his track “I’ll Never Love Again.” It’s an entry that draws you in from the very start thanks to dramatic organ, followed by strong rock and metal-inspired vocals in the chorus that juxtapose with the softer pre-choruses. It’s an anthem-esque track that you’ll be sing-screaming in your room post-breakup.  – A.A. 

More than a decade into her career, HWASA enters an exciting new chapter as a soloist with “Good Goodbye,” pairing her unmistakable voice with cinematic storytelling for a resonant, measured impact.

Written and composed together with An Shin-ae and Park Woo-sang, the song settles into the stillness after separation rather than its emotional chaos. Her signature breathy rasp, set against a vintage Hammond organ, transforms silence into feeling, shaping late-autumn melancholy into something clear-eyed and composed. The bridge’s falsetto shift lands not through force, but restraint. Claiming No. 1 on World Digital Song Sales and the inaugural Billboard Korea Hot 100, “Good Goodbye” underscores how measured sophistication commands attention. It stands as 2025’s most precisely crafted breakup song. – Billboard Korea

This Big Hit Entertainment entry is one we can’t stop dancing to. The boy group debuted in late August of this year, bringing with them a fresh new sound to the K-pop sphere with a danceable mix of modern trap along with sharp synths, bouncy drum and shouty reverbs reminiscent of artists like Travis Scott and Playboi Carti that stick in your head long after the track is over. It’s a song that experienced major virality on apps like TikTok, and made waves on our own World Albums and Global 200 charts, an impressive feat for a rookie group. – A.A. 

“Blue Valentine” is not the most obvious utilization of NMIXX’s at-times polarizing “MIXX pop” sound, but it is true to form: waves of melancholic synths, soaring guitar riffs, an undeniable bubblegum hook and tempo-shifting boom-bap beats that all blend together to elevate the song and make it more far more cinematic than anything formulaic.

Perhaps it’s the drama of “Blue Valentine” that turned the single into a breakout hit of the year and the girl group’s most successful song on the Korean charts and the Billboard Global 200 (their first song to break into the upper half of the chart). While NMIXX had previously struggled to establish themselves as chart mainstays with their arsenal of potentially divisive singles, the group’s talent has never been in question, and “Blue Valentine” offered a more emotional delivery for the group to embrace while remaining faithful to its experimental ways.

But beyond commercial markers, the track repositions NMIXX from experimental rookies into serious pop forces, proving a girl group can certainly lead with clear compositional and musical ambition to push boundaries while still delivering an earworm of a chorus. In a year when many K-pop releases chased obvious virality or A-list features, “Blue Valentine” proved that longevity and artistic risk can coexist. It’s a career-defining single that expanded what mainstream K-pop compositions can attempt — and accomplish — in 2025. – J.B.