BILLBOARD: THE 20 BEST K-POP SONGS OF 2015

This year very well may have been K-pop’s most exciting and full in the scene’s post-“Gangnam Style” era. Nearly all its beloved acts — both new and veteran — came swinging to grab the public attention with striking releases that included experimental collaborations, curveball genre explorations and heartfelt concoctions. The result was what may be the industry’s most creatively satisfying year of all time.

As Billboard has since 2012, we now present the 20 best K-pop songs of the year.

20. “Sweet Girl” B1A4
19. “Living in the Same Time,” Naul
18. “View” SHINee
17. “The Little Prince,” From the Airport & Gyuri
16. “If You Do” GOT7

15. “Bae Bae” BIG BANG
Just one of the eight singles BIGBANG dropped this year, “Bae Bae” saw the phenoms taking the popular trap genre and turning it K-pop with flecks of electronica and bizarre samples, paired with animated rapping and heartfelt croons made for yet an other boundary-breaking hip-hop release for the quintet.

14. “Closer” Oh My Girl!
13. “Eureka,” Zico & Zion.T
12. “Hopeless Love” park Jimin
11. “Don’t Be Shy,” Primary, Iron & ChoA
10. “Only You” Miss A
9. “Call Me Baby” EXO
8. “Awoo” Lim Kim
7. “You” G.Soul
6. “Crazy” 4Minute
5. “It G Ma” Keith Ape
4. “Just,” Zion.T & Crush
3. “Run” BTS
2. “I” Taeyeon

1. “Loser” BIG BANG
When it came to the singles game, it’d be tough to say the year didn’t belong to BIGBANG. The group slay the charts with their eight new songs and promoted nearly an album’s worth of material with music videos, live performances and an accompanying arena tour. It all kicked off with “Loser,” what can essentially stand as BIGBANG’s thesis statement for their brand of emotional hip-hop. The song took the previously heard brilliance in songs like “Bad Boy,” “Lies” and “Blue,” but stripped away all trendy elements for a straight-forward, acoustic-leaning take on baring what lies deep in each of our consciousness.

While K-pop’s known for its flashy, at-times-over-the-top creations, “Loser” proved that a subtle take on all the things that make a group unique can speak so much louder. Daesung, Taeyang and Seungri’s croons feel more heartfelt, TOP and G-Dragon’s raps are more poignant and it’s all done in a way to let each member shine. Despite the fact it might have been initially difficult for listeners to associate the BIGBANG superstars as a supposed “Loser,” those concerns would be immediately washed away upon first play — such an impassioned performance has you hooked from first listen.