(Spoiler alert: my favorite album of 2025 contained many of my favorite songs of 2025…)

Guys…2025 is ending in just two days. Where’d all the time go??? Time really does fly…but that also means it’s time for our 2025 K-pop WRAPPED. Here are my top 10 K-pop songs of 2025:

10. “One More Time”–ALLDAY PROJECT

Minus the “papi” line, this one may have ranked a little higher…nonetheless, its alluring nostalgic sound, sky full of fireworks, and blinding stage lights convince me to play it one more time before the close of 2025.

9. “1999”–MARK

Maybe nostalgia’s in the mood today…this throwback song with a catchy, head-voice chorus; a mesmerizing, eye-catching dance; and a fun, time-travel and UFO themed M/V turns back the clock on 2025.

8. “Hollow”–Stray Kids

Okay, I’m sorry, I know this is Japanese…but since it was produced by a K-pop group, I’m going to count it. Filled with enchanting vocals, metaphoric crystals, and attractive flower suits, “Hollow” filled 2025 with a special light.

7. “XOXZ”–IVE

Dreamy, fairytale-like, confident, beautiful, dazzling, mysterious, dark, puzzling, spontaneous, illusive, and picturesque…this complex and nuanced escape from reality is IVE’s prized contribution to 2025.

6. “like JENNIE”–JENNIE

Jennie’s right–no one can do it like her. No one can chant with such audacity or flout with such charm or dance with such power or command with such influence or top 2025’s charts with such dominance like JENNIE.

5. “Gabriela”–KATSEYE

A Spanish verse, a latin dance and telenovela influence, and a Jessica Alba cameo? “Gabriela” demonstrates K-pop’s global influence–and KATSEYE’s role in unfurling K-pop to the world in 2025.

4. “Blue Valentine”–NMIXX

A melodious chart-topper from a long-cherished but seldom-breakout group, “Blue Valentine’s” relatable irony and deeply candid perspective on love made it K-pop’s most memorable heartache of 2025.

3. “Gnarly”–KATSEYE

On the “Gnarly” love-hate spectrum, I stand firmly on the “absolutely in love” side. Its pure audacity–cursing every five seconds, nonsense music video, in-your-face vocals–made it an absolutely unforgettable 2025 track.

2. “Rich Man”–aespa

You tell them, aespa–never rely on anyone else to provide for you. Never place your self-worth in another person’s hands. Instead, be your own #1 fan, craft the wildest K-pop M/V of all time, and make 2025 rich with confidence.

1. “SPINNIN’ ON IT”–NMIXX

I have never fallen so deeply in love with a song in my entire life.

This song is single-handedly stretching my vocal range. I don’t ever sing, but when I put this song on my car’s AUX, I command my throat to belt its high pitches. I do not care how badly my vocal chords sting afterwards–my heart simply demands to express its complete enamorment with this song.

This song fights–and defeats–K-pop and consumerism-culture’s festering desire to degrade ideas of its complexity. Songs are pared down to sub-2:30, idols are simply a commodity, and love is simply a slew of empty lyrics, an inauthentic promise. But not “SPINNIN’ ON IT.” It portrays a love that’s toxic, obsessive, caring, fulfilling, rewarding, and lethal all at the same time. It is, in summary, refreshingly genuine.

I physically cannot listen to this song without opening my mouth and screaming the chorus along with the girls of NMIXX. I have rewatched the dance practice–where the girls dance and sing this song live–so many times that my YouTube watch history is probably deeply concerned for my sanity. I am a top 0.06% listener of NMIXX on YouTube because of this song. I feel so grateful for NMIXX’s 2025 and so excited for their 2026 because of “SPINNIN’ ON IT.”

⋆˙eighteen rants⋆˙