Client: DAZED
‘Twas the year of lawsuits dominating the news feed: HYBE, BE:LIFT and ADOR locked in the mother of all slanging matches, civil and criminal complaints, Warner Music Korea and agency Attrakt in court over girl group Fifty-Fifty, idols suing the rumour mongering YouTuber Sojang, and SM Entertainment suing three EXO members, who, in turn, counter-sued.
Yet again this year highlighted the broken state of the global music industry, with too many artists seen as valuable yet entirely expendable, as cogs in the C-suite machine. But, as the adage goes, the show must go on and so it did with over a dozen K-pop acts in the US album Top 10, including #1’s for Ateez, Twice, and Stray Kids, and a bonafide global hit single for Blackpink’s Rosé with Bruno Mars, which hit #2 in the UK.
As 2025 beckons, already filling up with anticipation and apprehension, Dazed looks back at the last 12 hectic months of single releases and deep cuts, selecting 50 of K-pop’s best tracks to be added onto your playlists.
Taylor Glasby 