The end of the year countdowns are finally here! As always, we’ll kick off with the big one: The Bias List’s top 50 songs of the year! Each day this week, I’ll be counting down ten of the year’s best, until number one is revealed on Friday.

To be eligible for this top 50 list, songs must have had a Korean release as a title track, follow-up or promotional video between Dec. 1st, 2021 and Nov. 30th, 2022.

Curious about past countdowns? Check out the masterpost here!

Honorable Mentions

Numbers 50-41

Numbers 40-31

Numbers 30-21

Numbers 20-11

10. RoaD-B – Icarus

A song can zigzag this way and that — indulging in as many breakdowns and offshoots as it wants — as long as it delivers a radiant chorus to come back to. Like its titular character, Icarus takes flight as soon as it hits its bounding hook. The languid verses ensure we never get too close to the sun, though the song might have scored even higher with a more consistent wind powering its sails. (full review)

9. DRIPPIN – Zero

Many of this year’s top songs felt like full musical feasts, well-structured and sprawling within their tight running time. A track like Zero moves intentionally, weaving through several unique highlights that eventually forge into a sucker punch climax. Zero takes you on a journey, and when the full brunt of its distorted guitars usher in the final chorus, every twist and lull in that trek feels earned. (full review)

8. TO1 – Drummin’

It’s deceptively hard to pull off a raucous party track like Drummin‘. Rely too heavily on chanted exclamations and crazy asides and you run the risk of driving the party bus right off the road. Sanitize your song too aggressively and you’ve cleaved off the grit that makes it feel genuine. Drummin‘ swaggers down the narrow pathway between these extremes. It’s a piñata of musical goodies: 70’s funk brass, ultra-catchy rap breakdowns and even a bit of cartoonish vocal fry. In between, we’ve got the year’s most stupidly brilliant rallying cry: “let’s get dumb and let’s get dumb.” (full review)

7. DRIPPIN – The One

Trilogies and inter-connected song series have become big K-pop business, but too often these projects open with their strongest punch before limping to the finish line with ever-diminishing returns. It’s rare to find a trilogy that grows stronger, song by song. The One stands as a new highlight in DRIPPIN’s burgeoning discography, harnessing many of the year’s trends (distorted guitar) and melding them to unique flourishes (drum and bass). Like its predecessor Zero, The One is a full musical meal, incorporating two distinct dance breakdowns before we rev toward its galvanizing conclusion. (full review)

6. Alice – Dance On

If I’m being honest, Dance On is the song I’d longed for from Kara’s big reunion. Of course, this is not a Kara song. This is Alice, reinvigorated with a new name and a spectacular new sound. In a year seemingly allergic to choruses, Dance On delivers a whopper of a centerpiece. The vocals are stacked to high heaven, the percussion is brisk and thrilling and the melody envelops you in a big pop embrace. You can feel the verses threatening to segue into the cheesy sing-talk styling that often mars K-pop dance tracks, but the producers are on their A-game with a series of rapid-fire drum hits that keep us speeding down the race track. (full review)

5. Tempest – Can’t Stop Shining

I’ve spent a good portion of the year writing about choruses — begging for good ones, jeering at bad ones. And yeah, Can’t Stop Shining‘s chorus is a big colorful fizz bomb of serotonin. But, it’s actually the surrounding pieces of this song that earn it a spot in my top five. To put it simply, Can’t Stop Shining‘s verses and pre-chorus are unmatched. The vocal arrangement is layered and lush, each note flowing into the next to create a sonic landscape so refreshing it practically drips right off the track. And when rap emerges during verse two, it plays in service to the groove, hitting the beat with gleeful exuberance. (full review)

4. RoaD-B – Nonstop

Out of nowhere they emerged, backed by the full power of a long-dormant Sweetune. RoaD-B’s Nonstop weaves a tempting tale, at once elusive and in-your-face. This melody is guided by a master hand, modulating in places you don’t expect but never losing its sense of tension. Nonstop oozes atmosphere, utilizing a gorgeous synth palette pulled from a different universe than anything else released this year. And when the song’s pathos reaches a head during its last-minute power note, Nonstop will fully sweep you away. This is absolutely brilliant songwriting. (full review)

3. IVE – After Like

The first few times you hear After Like, it’s hard to separate the song from its instantly recognizable I Will Survive sample. Do we love the track because we love the disco classic it’s built around? Or, would After Like be just as addictive without that bombastic post-chorus? The truth can exist somewhere in the middle. Gloria Gaynor’s immortal 1978 hit surely takes much of the credit, but that familiarity also raises the stakes. A flimsy pop trifle would collapse under the weight of that sample.

As After Like scaled the top of the charts, it proved itself anything but flimsy. The song is a pinwheel of sprightly hooks, buttressed by chunky house piano and a personality-rich performance that spawns multiple moments of K-pop iconography. It’s the sound of a rookie group coming into their own and doing it in style. (full review)

2. Girls’ Generation (SNSD) – Forever 1

There are many times when experimenting with your pop song pays off. Long-awaited anniversary tracks probably aren’t one of these times. A milestone release like Forever 1 should sound like a grand fireworks display stuffed into a pop song. It should engage all your senses. You should be able to close your eyes and see the music.

Forever 1 honors the legacy of its incredible performers, reuniting Girls’ Generation with longtime collaborator Kenzie. This sisterhood thrives within the song’s lyrical conceit and its self-referential sense of nostalgia. Its blistering EDM assault slots comfortably as part of Girls’ Generation’s early-10’s dominance while keeping one eye on the future as the group jets into a new era.

Maybe Forever 1 isn’t fireworks after all. Maybe it’s a confetti drop, flanked by confetti cannons. Whatever the case, there’s a lot to sweep up after the song has finished. Specks of multicolored paper, damp with tears of resilience and joy. (full review)

1. Golden Child – Replay

Since their debut in 2017, Golden Child have placed a total of twelve songs on my year-end countdown. Seven of these ranked within the top ten. The group is just that consistently good. But though they’ve played runner-up a few times, Golcha have yet to score my top song of the year. As much as I might love an artist’s music, I have to be true to my convictions. A song can’t climb all the way to the top based on goodwill alone.

Well, their perennial ‘runner-up status’ ends in 2022. Replay is a definitive choice, barreling to number one with indefatigable energy. Golden Child are a powerhouse group, but they rarely get a chance to display that intensity on a title track. Right from the start, you know Replay is going to be a very different beast. It announces itself with a double whammy of vocal refrain and chorus. You’re thrown right into the vortex of this gale force performance, unsure where its structure will ultimately take you.

And, what a structure this is! True to its theme of time manipulation, Replay unfolds as a series of dives and punches. The chorus initially seems locked in repetition — almost like an engine rolling over. The vocals break free on the fourth go-around, but relief is temporary. At its climax, the song resets with Joochan’s blistering “you and me” refrain. Replay‘s sense of movement is palpable, both in its claustrophobic containment and its moments of victorious exhilaration.

Once you think you’ve got a read on Replay‘s bag of tricks, the track rips itself open again as a pummeling guitar breakdown adds another level of intensity. The instrumental shreds. Golden Child shred. There’s rarely a moment to breathe. This is desperation in the form of a pop song, unyielding and extreme.

I’m 90% percent sure that Replay and Forever 1 share the same vocal sample — that pumping crowd cheer underlining Replay‘s weightless pre-chorus and Forever 1‘s rousing finale. Each song uses this sample in different ways. It’s a celebratory sense of unity for SNSD and their fans, but throughout Replay it becomes fuel for Golcha’s aggressive plea. I’ll take either emotion as long as a song makes me feel something. Replay feels deeply, its frayed nerves sewn into every beat. (full review)