This is one of the hardest intro paragraphs to write each year, because it’s the list most intensely personal to my tastes, and yet is often the one that lasts the longest, as it tends to get the most attention late into the following year and beyond. Most years all I can really point out is the pattern of album types making the list each year, so here we go:

Oh my word; the boys sure did come out to play in 2024. Seven of the ten total albums on this sub-divided page (honourable mentions aside) and all five of the full-album entries come from male acts, which I’m pretty sure is unprecedented. In addition, for the first time ever there are no girl groups on either of the two top fives. I don’t know why that is; I wasn’t trying to do that as I worked on the lists. It just so happened that I liked more of the lads’ work throughout the year.

Predominantly English/Japanese albums don’t count for this page, so Rose’s much-hyped rosie won’t be here, but it’s pretty good – and you should also check out Milena’s Foggy if you enjoy relaxed R&B.

1-3 tracks = not eligible

4-7 tracks = mini album

8+ tracks = full album

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VR BEST OF 2024 DISCLAIMER

This list represents my opinion only. I am not asserting any kind of superiority or self-importance by presenting it as I have. My opinion is not fact. Nobody ever agrees with me 100%. Respectful disagreement is most welcome.

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MINI ALBUMS
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5. ACT – Kang Daniel

Kang Daniel’s 2024 EP puts its MV track in the crucial third track slot, which is such a rare move even this far into K-Pop’s globalised album production era that I had to take notice as soon as a mate recommended ACT to me. But it turns out it’s no quirky, showy play: that very song, the catchy bounce and double-keyboard drive of Electric Shock, needs a full track’s worth of distance between itself and opener Losing Myself, which is simply one of the best B-sides of the year and was at risk of overshadowing the lead single. That chorus build-up and the chaotic ensuing breakdown takes over any pair of headphones, threatening to collapse upon itself with a gloriously cacophonous breakdown. The rest of the EP is no slouch: soft harp vibes contrast with crunchy garage beats to beautiful effect in Chung Ha duet Come Back to Me, and closer 9 Lives turns up the bassy synth as Daniel proudly declares he’s “leveling up”. I’ll say.

4. The Winning – IU

Another *ahem* winner of an EP from one of the most reliable artists in the business, IU not only makes The Winning sound effortless, she gives off the unmistakable vibe that she’s enjoying every note. Trademark wispy vocals saunter through Holssi over the kind of offbeat backing not seen since her Chat-shire days, and the way everything harmonises together should not come as a surprise – but it still sounds so fresh. Immediately afterwards comes Shh.., one of the most indulgent songs at its conservative BPM level I have ever heard. Jazzy, sassy and fabulously supported, the track has the gall to end with an acting segment even though the EP is nowhere near over – which still works because Love wins all starts real soft. That’s an IU power ballad, though, so you just know it’ll be swelling with sheer orchestral scale soon enough – and it sure does. If anything, the opening and closing tracks are the most vanilla of the package, but of course they’re still produced and performed to the highest standard.

3. Witness – ALL(H)OURS

Amidst an ocean of new groups hoping to be the next big thing in the so-called “noisebois” subgenre, 7-strong rookie squad ALL(H)OURS came hurtling out of the blocks in the second week of 2024 with a rock-solid example of a loud EP worth its decibels. Six months later, they improved on that EP with a sophomore release even more tuned-in to the K-Pop hype EP. More EDM-leaning than most albums of its kind, Witness starts with the kind of instrumental build-up track to make LEEZ-era Dreamcatcher proud, and the upper-register factory synth of title track Shock lands spectacularly as a result. The back-of-mix falsetto owl calls and back-of-throat chorus growls of Psycho Mantra help craft a signature centrepiece track, before distorted percussion and surprisingly smooth vocal touches wrap everything up on ‘Bout That Issue and Blah Blah.

2. Fake Happy – Seori

Rarely has a four-track offering made such an immediate impact as Seori’s contemplative rock-infused 2024 EP. Fake Happy entangles Seori’s naturally oscillating 2010s indie-girl vocal tone through some very mid-2000s emo production to unexpectedly fabulous results. Kill the day is another stellar opening song that’s simply better than the title track: the lazy lover lament alternates acoustic and electric guitars with perfect precision to stake a claim as the year’s best curtain-raiser.

That very title track starts morose and gets weirdly, wonderfully anthemic, touching on depression themes before Broken truly goes in on them: it swaps the guitars for a low organ drone and cavernous percussion so Seori’s vocal tone can really show off. The low-key whirlwind EP lands gracefully with and Me, which initially sounds like a conservative acoustic jam until the vocals begin to disintegrate in real time within the mix. Seori has made meatier albums, but I don’t think she’s made better.

1. Time Machine – SOLE

Two years after putting out one of my most repeated albums ever, R&B golden talent SOLE delivers another laser-focused project with a dangerous thematic throughline for anyone with fond memories of 1990s crooning. Bookended by direct homages to Fugees’ 1996 cover of Killing Me Softly With His Song, Time Machine turns up every possible pre-9/11 filter as SOLE’s myriad producing partners – including Thama once again – ensure that popcorn drum machine is mixed all the way forward and every bleep and bloop of the era is present and accounted for.

Still Love is a wonderfully lively opener, but GONE is the real bells-and-whistles showcase song of the piece, with Just a Moment batting nostalgia clean-up as the listener recovers. 1minute features an unexpectedly exotic backing track that is so immediately effective it almost threatens to overshadow SOLE’s ad-libs, but any long-term fan of this musical team’s work is probably going to have the same favourite I do: Situationship reunites SOLE and Thama in the recording booth for the first time in years, and lets them sing over each other for some proper magical duet vibes.

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Honorable Mentions

–DLC – Fisherman

Good enough for the main list if not for the pesky issue that it only barely qualifies as an EP: it stands at just three vocal tracks, three included instrumental versions of those tracks, and one unique instrumental closer. 3UPHORIA should be on every K-R&B fan’s playlist.

–Letter to Myself – Taeyeon

Not as spicy or enthrallingly gimmicky as most of Taeyeon’s shorter-form album work, but it is quite difficult to keep SM’s soloist champion off this page when songs like Hot Mess and Blur unleash the upper range of her voice with such abandon.

–Sick of Love – BOYCOLD

The quirky, vocally talented BOYCOLD declares from the appropriately-titled opening track of Sick of Love that he “can’t be cool”, but this icy EP proves nothing could be further from the truth. Every track on the thing is swarming with guest spots, including SOLE and Leellamarz not once but twice. Cold Outside, Love brings Junny in to craft one of the smoothest babymakers of the decade.

–Cosmic – Red Velvet

With its seven full songs, the EP that accompanied my song of the year makes everything else in this section sound like it blazes past in a flash; it makes the most of that length by presenting Sunflower and Love Arcade as two fresh additions to the group’s extensive ‘weird gems’ catalogue, and Last Drop as a straight gold-star RV great.

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FULL ALBUMS
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5. Painting – oceanfromtheblue

What can I say; sometimes I just cannot resist unpacking a really weird album setup, and a ten-track / 18-minute effort from the man responsible for last year’s album of the year is too juicy to pass up – especially when it sounds this smooth. Moon Walk is a good enough track to hold up an entire album, sounding like you met a stranger with your best interests at heart in the coolest waiting room in the world, but Painting also has other quirks to take the listener’s attention. Track names like München Intro, Antwerp Interlude, and Madrid Outro lend a fun – and apparently authentic to the artist – global feel to one of the shortest LPs ever featured on this list, even if that mood is a bit showy, and the tracks that fill out the spaces between successfully bind together for understated wash-album magic. Those widening keyboard tones just work so well with oceanfrontheblue’s exact default vocal tone, as perfectly exemplified on F.I.F.Y and Old Flame.

4. Trust Me – Yugyeom

Unfortunately GOT7’s Yugyeom can’t stay in falsetto range forever, so his recent transition to full-on K-R&B solo act has had mixed results thus far. The guy apparently knows how to network, though, and that skill puts him in a great place with Trust Me, because every feature on the generous tracklist is a winner. LeeHi rips through re-purposed 2023 B-side Say Nothing like it’s, well, nothing; punchnello adds gentle spice to Be Alright; on SHINE Sumin does that 2024 thing where any song she’s on becomes amazing. That still leaves a lot of songs left for Yugyeom to handle on his lonesome, and his growth as a soloist is on full display with the likes of 2-step groove WUH, Latin-flavoured Dance, and bold slow jam opener LA SOL MI. I’m also a big fan of the insertion of 2023’s fantastic Ponytail right around where the pace is about to slow to a crawl. If there is a dud among the bunch, it might just be the MV track 1 Minute, which has smooth moments but sours them with a fairly annoying hook.

3. PUMP – Epik High

Even when they’re not at their absolute peak, Epik High doesn’t seem to miss. Calling one of their LPs “experimental” feels quaint at best considering how much variety they usually pack – not to mention how long the trio has been around and how much musical ground they’ve covered as a result – but I’m at a loss to describe sections of PUMP any other way. The 20-minute length of the thing is partially responsible, as is the fact it got a remixed re-release months later, but there’s more: the mid-song tempo switch-up of ANTIHERO that effectively gives the album a bonus interlude brings the word to mind, as does the sliding talk-singing in the chorus of K-DRAMA and the deranged throwaway period-drama piano / villain laughing of the very next skit. The change-ups are fun, but the three best songs of the lot happen to be the ones that feel the most on-brand for the sound of EH’s last decade: the very slight jazz-influenced OK GOOD, chill DJ Tukutz instrumental OFF DAY, and classically morose I WAS HAPPY.

2. DREAMSCAPE – NCT Dream

Not to be confused with DREAM( )SCAPE, the mini-album NCT Dream released eight months before this full-fat November project (and why on earth would you confuse the two?), DREAMSCAPE rubber-stamps NCT Dream as the latest SM boy group to outlast their initial conceptual identity, even as they continue to mine the strengths they’ve always had. The 11-tracker manages to maintain a strong single mood despite a balance of harder and softer tracks, consistently leaning optimistic wherever possible and ensuring a coherent no-skip adventure.

YOU starts with ominous booming synth but then gets a major-key chorus line, and even a track called No Escape that lyrically name-checks anxiety sounds like the coolest shuffle track ever. Elsewhere we get the spiritual sequel to last year’s ISTJ line “I hate singing” with a jam called I hate fruits (whatever will these deviants call out next?) alongside a perfect encapsulation of modern NCT Dream in Night Poem, a catchy harmonious vocal backing with slow raps layered above. There’s also the fast-talking Flying Kiss and the loopy Off the Wall, neither of which should work but absolutely do, thanks to veteran presence all around.

1. Troubleshooting – Xdinary Heroes

K-Rock album efforts have always felt like they should hit with me way more often than they actually do, especially since CNBlue featured heavily in my initial decision to get into Korean music. Sadly, the reality is they often come out in the wash feeling as drab and cookie-cutter as any low-effort pop album. Not since 2020 gave us Day6’s The Book of Us: The Demon has any full-length album (by my definition at least) from an instrument-playing Korean group come anywhere close to my favourite listens of the year, but in 2024 Xdinary Heroes have restored my faith in the idea that K-Pop production can meet an alternative sound without thoroughly underwhelming results.

The first full-length effort from JYP’s latest boy group is a rip-roaring ode to the alternative sound of the 2000s, and it’s a unique rush to hear riffs straight out of the Advance Wars playbook growling under the clean vocal production of a major K-Pop label. The mood of this thing hardly deviates even as the Heroes race through distinct influences: Money On My Mind is 2006 Jet; MONEYBALL’s verses start with a Slipknot energy; Paint It is bouncy turn-of-the-century Brit Rock; UNDEFINED gives me B.A.P Noir vibes. The mark of a great album is how often my favourite track changes when I listen to the whole thing through, and right now that is my exact state of mind, but have a listen to the excellent closer, Night of Fireworks:

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The 2024 edition of my now-traditional K-Sides Collection playlist is live and available HERE, if you want to check it out. It’s made up of some of the year’s best Korean B-sides, made with a one-song-per-act rule and a deliberate attempt to flow without the shuffle button. Much like this countdown, it’s pretty heavy on the male artists this year.

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Honorable Mentions

–LIVE and FALL – Xdinary Heroes

That’s right, the band released another album in 2024; it’s a bit shorter and takes longer to get going, but is absolutely also worth your time – especially if you prefer your guitar riffs a bit harder and more anime-esque. I usually try not to take up two spots on one list with the same artist, but Xdinary Heroes pushed me very, very close; Boy Comics is one of the year’s best headbangers, iNSTEAD! Features honest-to-goodness scream vocals, and LOVE and FEAR is probably the Heroes’ best single song of 2024. These guys have absolutely proven themselves worth watching in the years to come.

–EGO 90’S Part 3 – Babylon

It may be one of the longest Korean albums I’ve ever heard, but if you fancy spending 75 minutes sinking into jazz-dusted city-pop grooves with smooth vocals and just enough variety to keep things interesting, you’ll find much worse single-mood pieces than Babylon’s third effort in his EGO 90’S project. Even the ballads pop on this one, which is good because there are a lot of them.

–2 – (G)I-DLE

Soyeon and her capable gang of support artists were the only women to put out a decent 2024 LP in my book, and it barely gets there at 8 tracks long. The excellent 7 Days dominates the runtime at right around the centrepiece slot despite some cringey nursery rhyme lyrics, but it’s ably supported by the likes of the growly Revenge and evocative Doll.

–Hop – Stray Kids

It turns out the best way to get Stray Kids to make a consistently upbeat album is to call it a “mixtape” (but not call the album Mixtape – that’s a different thing – K-Pop is a very normal industry). The structure does suffer a bit thanks to repeating tracks, but the novelty of granting each member a solo stage goes a long way.