Top 50 Singles of 2015: 30-26

30. GD and Taeyang (ft. Kwanghee) - Mapsosa



Quite the unlikely collaboration, recorded as part of Korea's biggest reality show. It's a prime example of Bigbang members having fun, without worrying about the need to project a "cool" image.

29. Ola Salo - How I Kill



The Ark's frontman went solo with a track that sounded a lot like his old band. In the glam rock wasteland that was 2015, this is a very good thing. This is also the highest ranking English-language track on the countdown. My, how things have changed!

28. iKON - Airplane



YG's newest group blitzed us with five singles in three months, but this emotion, midtempo pop ballad was the best.

27. Bigbang - Bang Bang Bang 



The successor in many ways to the group's epic Fantastic Baby, the only thing that prevented this from being higher is that letdown of a chorus.

26. News - Chumu Chumu 



Cheesy? Yes! But that's okay when the best and most fun elements of Bollywood are so expertly translated to bombastic J-Pop.

Top Albums and Mini-Albums of 2015: Number 6

ALBUMS

6. Red Velvet - The Red



I wasn't sure about these girls until: a) I saw them live b) I head Dumb Dumb, the title track of this album. Their concept is divided between experimental uptempo tracks ("red") and slower, more r+b influenced material ("velvet"). You can probably guess which one I prefer, and luckily this solid album is filled with it. It's just a fun, playful pop album that holds attention throughout its entire running time. That's rare these days.

MINI ALBUMS

6. iKON - Welcome Back (half album)



iKON arrived with so many expectations, and wound up not redefining music as we know it, but instead delivering a very solid YG release in a year where YG-albums were pretty much non-existent. That's enough to land them a spot on any countdown. Buoyed by a handful of excellent singles, the album tracks managed to be pretty solid as well. Add the two November singles to cap it out, and you've definitely got one of the stronger k-pop releases of the year.

iKON - Apology

YG continues his strange (and frustrating) 2015 promo plan of sidelining the vast majority of his artists and instead blitzing us with multiple releases by just two groups. First it was Bigbang, and now it's iKON (who are pushed to be Bigbang's successors). Luckily, they released a great mini album six weeks ago and their newest pair of singles are very good too. These two tracks (the somber Apology and aggressive Anthem) sound even more Bigbangy than ever, most likely due to the fact that they've been co-created by Teddy, one of Bigbang and G-Dragon's go-to collaborators. I was struck particularly by Apology the first time I heard it. It's just a beautiful rock/hip-hop ballad. Yes, it sounds exactly how you'd expect a YG track of this nature to sound like, but I guess if it's not broken, don't fix it. The music video is gorgeously shot as well.



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iKON - Airplane

When reviewing iKON's debut track, My Type, I predicted that it was a warm-up for something more elaborate and impactful. I was kind of wrong, since both of the title tracks released by the group as part of their "half album" are understated and, honestly, don't have much of an impact at all. It's not necessarily a bad thing. I've come around to the juvenile early-00's hip-hop sound of Rhythm Ta, and I loved Airplane from first listen. The problem is that, as good as Airplane is, it's basically a Winner song. For those of you who don't know Winner is the group that "competed" against iKON in a k-pop survival show. They're rivals and friends, both under the same agency. Whereas Winner was well-known for a more ballad-heavy. mature style, iKON is supposed to be the young, fresh hip-hop group. Funny then, that my favorite song on their admittedly strong EP is the mid-tempo, mature sounding Airplane. It's that insistent English hook that rears its head throughout the track. The song's a classic YG-style ballad -- subtle and almost forgettable at first, but layered with hidden hooks that keeps you coming back for more.



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iKON - My Type

I never really understood the label of "pre-release" or "warm-up" single. As far as I can tell, it's usually tacked on to a subtle, pleasant song that's released before the inevitably impressive, take-no-prisoners awesome comeback. This begs the question: why bother with the less-memorable track at all when you could just skip right to the awesome one? My guess is that sometimes a pre-release single is actually designed to lower expectations. I know this sounds counter-intuitive, but sometimes massive anticipation and excitement only leads to scrutiny and disappointment. This is true in particular with debut groups. In my mind, My Type is this kind of pre-release. It's nice and pleasant and actually growing on me more and more, but it certainly doesn't leave you with much. It's not the incredibly memorable debut track we know that a group as hyped as iKON is capable of, but it kind of opens my mind and puts me in the mood to hear more. Excitement may be slightly lowered, but curiosity is piqued. Luckily, we don't have long to wait, as their proper "debut" is scheduled for next week.



(If you decide to buy K-Pop physical album releases -- and my god you should, because they're awesome -- try catchopcd for some of the best prices. Use this link to get 5% off your first order)

Top 50 Singles of 2014: 40-36

40. 2NE1 - Crush



This is the Japanese (ie: single) version of the song that opened their brilliant second full length album. So much attitude crammed into three minutes.

39. Martin Stenmarck - När änglarna går hem



A chest-beating anthem from this year's Melodifestivalen. It's criminally underrated, and is guaranteed to boost your energy.

38. BoA - Shout It Out



BoA's been around for a long time, but she's rarely sounded so youthful and carefree as she does on this track. She could teach Western divas a thing or two.

37. iKON - Wait For Me 



At the time this was released, the group wasn't even fully formed yet. I predict that iKON will be 2015's major success story. This emotive midtempo is certainly a promising start.

36. Alex Metric - Heart Weighs A Ton (ft. Stefan Storm) 



In a year without a new release by The Sound Of Arrows, this track featuring the band's lead singer was a welcome treat. Lush dancepop at its best.

Don't forget, if you'd like to listen to the Top 50 Singles Countdown in full, download the audio version!

Team B - Wait For Me

After the success of last year's WIN reality competition that led to the debut of hugely popular K-Pop group Winner, YG Entertainment is at it again with Mix & Match, which takes the losing team from last year and... well, mixes and matches them until they're a new group to be called iKON. For now, I guess we still call them Team B, but either way, they were my favorite of the two teams on WIN and I think if they get the right songs, they could eventually be the more successful of the two teams. As part of M&M's premiere episode last week, the guys released Wait For Me. Like most YG songs, I was a little ho-hum on first listen but I quickly grew to fall in love with it. And when I say "fall in love," I am not using that phrase lightly. I literally can't stop listening to this track. It's an emotional mid-tempo pop/r&b track with a perfect melody and an excellent guitar line forming the foundation. It feels so incredibly powerful, but I think part of that is because I've watched all these guys have had to go through on their way to success. They're hungry, and you can feel that in the vocals and level of commitment. So all in all, give this a few listens until it clicks, and also watch the performance. You won't regret it (at least until a couple of these guys get kicked off the team...).



(Music posted for evaluation purposes only. Buy the single here. Follow me on twitter and facebook.