2016-2018 was a great year for K-Pop aficionados, as it marked the rise of some popular K-Pop groups now. As Korean netizens looked back at that year of music, people chose which hit song they loved the most. Did your favorite make the list? Read on to find out!
1. TWICE - "Cheer Up"
"Cheer Up" was released in April of 2016. The song is TWICE's first breakthrough into the mainstream and had topped the Gaon Digital Chart, subsequently become the best-performing single of the year in South Korea. Additionally, it won two "Song of the Year" awards - one at the Melon Music Awards and the Mnet Asian Music Awards. Sana's iconic line, "shy shy shy", become a viral meme and was imitated by numerous celebrities in South Korea. Both Billboard and Dazed Magazine added "Cheer Up" to the best K-Pop songs of 2016.
2. iKON - "Love Scenario"
"Love Scenario" was released in January of 2018, with a Chinese version released in July of that year and a Japanese version released in February of 2019. The song won "Song of the Year" at the 2018 Melon Music Awards and the 33rd Golden Disc Awards, and is recognized as one of iKON's signature songs. The song was a huge hit in Korea but was extremely well-loved with kindergarteners and elementary school students due to the easy-to-follow melody and lyrics. The song had to be banned in schools because of how addicted students were to it!
3. Red Velvet - "Red Flavor"
"Red Flavor" was released in July of 2017, with a Japanese version released in July of 208. Upon the song's debut, "Red Flavor" received positive reviews and was dubbed as a "summer anthem". It is Red Velvet's longest-charting singles on the Gaon Digital Chart to date and is the group's first single to sell over 2,500,000 downloads in South Korea alone. The song was considered the second greatest song of the 2010s by Billboard. Billboard added it to its list, citing "evocations of a bright summer romance which are felt in every flourish and quirk." Additionally, it peaked at number four in the Billboard's World Digital Songs charts and become their first single to enter the Billboard Charts in the Philippines and Japan. It is considered one of Red Velvet's signature songs.
4. BTS - "DNA"
"DNA" was released in September of 2017. A Japanese version of the song was released in December 2017. "DNA" is notably known as the song that marked BTS's rise in the Western market, with people comparing the style of the song with the works of Western singers Selena Gomez and Shawn Mendes. In South Korea, it debuted at number two on the Gaon Digital Chart. It topped the Billboard K-Pop Hot 100. Additionally, it was BTS's first song to ever chart in the United Kingdom.
5. BTS - "FIRE"
"FIRE" was released in May of 2016, with a Japanese version of the song released in September of the same year. BTS topped the Billboard World Digital Songs with the single. It is still popular to this day and can often be heard as background music for numerous South Korean variety shows. Notably, members RM, Suga, Jungkook, and Jimin are credited in the song, with RM and Suga as producers and Jungkook and Jimin writing for the chorus.
6. BTS - "Spring Day"
"Spring Day" was released in February of 2017. The song was such a hit with the Korean public, it had topped the Gaon Digital Chart, subsequently winning the "Song of the Year" award at the 2017 Melon Music Awards. The song was loved for the group's soft and sweet vocals and lyrics that talk about yearning. The song talks about numerous tops such as loss, longing, and of remembrance, and the group was complimented for expressing such biter sweet emotions in such a slow and soft song. It was included in Billboard's "The 100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s".
