The Ten Most Epic K-pop Months in BIAS LIST History

The Bias List has been around for over five years now, and ever since the start I’ve been featuring monthly round-ups. This gives me a chance to look back at the end of each month and determine my favorite music from that period. Of course, some months are stronger than others, and that’s what I’m counting down today!

Looking back at every month since January 2016, I’ve compiled the ten most exciting. These months had legendary title tracks, killer albums and momentous debuts. Some of them were just stuffed with releases, offering quantity and quality. Others stake their claim on a few iconic songs that went on to become Bias List favorites.

I limited my pool of choices to 2016-2020. I didn’t want to include any 2021 months since I don’t yet have enough perspective to accurately rank them.

Read on to see which months made the cut. And click the “full round-up” links for extra details (as well as some woeful opinions that haven’t always aged well!).

Honorable Mentions

June 2018

May 2019

September 2018

10. April 2016

What lands it on the list:

• NCT’s incredible debut
• Seventeen’s first album (with the awesome Pretty U)
• VIXX’s last bright, funky comeback
• Twice’s first comeback
• Plenty of great, melodic girl group songs (Laboum’s Journey To Atlantis, April’s Tinker Bell, Lovelyz’s Destiny, Berry Good’s Angel)

FULL RECAP

9. October 2020

What lands it on the list:

• Strong Golden Child comeback with a brighter sound
• DRIPPIN’s debut
• Excellent mini album from TXT
• Twice and BLACKPINK’s best title tracks in years

FULL RECAP

8. March 2019

What lands it on the list:

• My top two songs of 2019
• The excellent debut of TXT
• Strong comebacks from Sunmi, Key and Pentagon
• Park Jihoon’s solo debut

FULL RECAP

7. September 2020

What lands it on the list:

• My favorite song of 2020
• Two other songs that made my top ten that year
• Fantastic albums from YooA, The Boyz and SuperM
• The debut of GHOST9
• BDC’s first release in their “moon” series
• Strong titles from Stray Kids & Wonho

FULL RECAP

6. July 2017

What lands it on the list:

• A pair of iconic legends (Snuper’s The Star Of Stars, Red Velvet’s Red Summer)
• A great EXO album
• AKMU’s return with a more dance-focused sound
• Fantastic summer pop songs from Monsta X and KARD

FULL RECAP

5. November 2016

What lands it on the list:

• So many excellent titles (BLACKPINK, Mamamoo, Astro, B1A4, SHINee)
• One legendary title that should have been my song of the month (Snuper’s It’s Raining)
• Debut of The East Light
• A couple of great full albums (B1A4, B.A.P)
• Some really strong minis (UP10TION, BTOB, Astro)
• Some killer singles (Sistar, Taeyeon)

FULL RECAP

4. July 2016

What lands it on the list:

• Two absolute legends (Seventeen’s Very Nice and GFriend’s Navillera)
• A trio of very strong albums (Astro, Seventeen, GFriend)
• NCT 127’s debut
• A surprise release from Infinite
• Wonder Girls’ final comeback
• Beast’s last album before renaming as Highlight

FULL RECAP

3. August 2017

What lands it on the list:

• The debut of Bias List favorites Golden Child and ONF
• Wanna One’s debut with the iconic Energetic
• Girls’ Generation’s first new album in years
• N.Flying’s first release with new member Hweseung
• The long-awaited return of Bigbang’s Taeyang
• NCT Dream’s last bubblegum pop single (and first mini album!)
• Pristin’s final single
• Samuel’s strong debut

FULL RECAP

2. October 2019

What lands it on the list:

• Albums, albums, albums! So many great albums! (TXT, ATEEZ, DAY6, SuperM, AB6IX, Super Junior, ONF, Taeyeon, etc)
• Stellar title tracks from those albums (TXT, ATEEZ, SuperM, AB6IX)
• Fantastic b-sides (DAY6’s Deep In Love, SuperM’s I Can’t Stand The Rain, ONF’s All Day, etc)
• Very strong titles from Nu’est, Lim Hyunsik and Youngjae
• The first tease of Stray Kids’ new album

FULL RECAP

1. January 2018

What lands it on the list:

• Woollim supremacy (the long-awaited return of Infinite, plus Golden Child’s first comeback (with their strongest mini))
• Sweetune supremacy (Golden Child’s It’s U, Lady – Target’s Tempest)
• Sumni’s Heroine!
• Two iconic 2018 earworms (Momoland’s Bboom Bboom and iKON’s Love Scenario)
• Super strong returns for Oh My Girl, Red Velvet, TRCNG and The East Light
• fromis_9’s debut mini
• Excellent b-sides (Infinite’s Wind, Rainz’s Open Ur Heart, Golden Child’s I’m Falling)
• EXO’s amazing Japanese album

FULL RECAP

What about you? What were your favorite K-pop months of the past few years?

Original Article