At the end of each month, I look back at my three favorite title tracks by K-pop artists. I take my own ratings into account, but there’s a bit of wiggle room as certain songs tend to grow or fade.
February 2026 Overall Thoughts
I swear I try to find the silver lining whenever possible on this blog, but we have been stuck in such a K-pop rut since mid-November and each month that passes refuses to dig us out.
I could understand a slow December. Year-end shows take precedence and everyone’s busy with rehearsals and special stages. I could even understand a slow January… to an extent. Idols deserve breaks, after all. February is also notoriously slow thanks for music show cancellations due to the Lunar New Year holiday. If any one of these months had been severely underwhelming, I’d chalk it up to the usual winter doldrums in K-pop. However, the fact that more than three months have passed without a single highlight worries me and adds to my feeling that this has been the worst start to a K-pop year since I’ve been a fan.
Not only have music shows felt utterly barren (they’re still stuffed with ballads and random trot songs when they should be hosting multiple comebacks a week), but not a single song has rated above an 8.5 (B) on this blog since the middle of November. It’s been almost four months since we’ve had a “9” (A-) and almost five since I’ve rated something “9.25” (A) or higher. Worse yet, there’s been an increasing number of low-rated songs — music I wouldn’t even add to my playlist.
Most of the acts I find musically reliable in this generation of K-pop have yet to announce 2026 comebacks, which is a big reason these past few months have felt so barren. But even acts that are often quite strong (ZEROBASEONE, ATEEZ, WJSN, WOODZ) have returned with underwhelming material. Some barely scraped into my honorable mentions. Most didn’t even get that far.
For the third month in a row, I don’t see any of my top three picks ending up on a year-end list, though if 2026 continues to underwhelm the way it has so far (please, no!), I guess I’ll be forced to add them. All three of my top picks are absolutely solid. None have me excited in any meaningful way. But here’s the thing: all it takes is a small string of 8.75-9.25 rated tracks to get momentum started again. I know it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of… when?
J-pop offered some decent tracks this month and I’m quite taken by my top pick (even though it’s not really a “single” in the classic sense). But really, my heart has been with European pop this month. We’re in the middle of Eurovision pre-selections, meaning the region has been quite busy when it comes to pop music. Nearly all of my 9+ rated songs so far this year have come from a European country. I wish we could get some of that energy back in K-pop!
Now that we’re heading into March and there’s no more forced hiatuses on the horizon, I expect that the release slate will pick up. There aren’t many upcoming releases that have me anticipating at the moment, but I’m eager to hear that one “9+” rated song that’s destined to break the doldrums. I have no idea who that song could come from at this point, but it has to come eventually!
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.5
(compiled by averaging the scores of every K-pop review from this month)
J-Pop Highlights
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week One
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Two
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Three
New & Noteworthy J-pop: Week Four
TOP J-POP SONGS OF THE MONTH
3. SUPER★DRAGON – Break Off
2. Takase Toya & Fumiya Sato – Please Miss Me
1. Produce 101 Japan – Shinsekai
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
ASC2NT – Still Rose (review)
Chaser – Invincible (review)
MADEIN – Super Obvious (review)
WJSN – Bloom Hour (review)
ZEROBASEONE – LOVEPOCALYPSE (review)
This Month’s Risers and Fallers
This Week In K-pop: Week 1 / Week 2 / Week 3 / Week 4
This Month’s Global Pop Round-Up
TOP THREE SONGS OF JANUARY
3. Kim Sungkyu – Over It (review)
2. LAVIN – Junk Love (review)
1. IVE – Blackhole (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of January 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of December 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of November 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of October 2025
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of September 2025