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.
July 2026 Overall Thoughts
I really don’t want to be a buzzkill, but now that we’re well into the second half of 2026 I’m dismayed that this appears to be the weakest K-pop year since 2020 — perhaps since long before I started this blog. It’s certainly been the most underwhelming summer I can remember in K-pop. There haven’t been any real highlights, but what makes this year so unique is the number of truly awful songs that have been released.
July used to be my favorite month in K-pop. I think I got spoiled by the July run of 2014-2017, with each year delivering a consistent slate of some of the best K-pop songs ever. In comparison, this July felt like a yawn followed by a whimper and interspersed with a sigh. Most of the big names sat the month out and the overall excitement around the industry felt surprisingly muted. Music shows were cancelled thanks to the World Cup, comeback announcements were infrequent and the top charting songs were either from months or years ago.
A number of groups I’ve loved in the past (AHOF, NouerA, The Wind, BBGirls, Sunmi, Hyolyn) made comebacks this month, but only one impressed — and even then it was a small step down from last year’s material. However, beggars can’t be choosers so they end up in my top spot by default.
Mid-July was particularly dire, with two weeks in a row at a sub-7.5 cumulative rating (7.43 and 7.25 to be exact). When your “top” rated song of the week is only at 8.25 (later downgraded to 8), you know you’re in trouble. This used to be the month of summer bangers for the ages. Now, we’re lucky if we get a few idols shouting “whipped cream! whipped cream! big dream! big dream!” at us.
You know I love stats, so I took a look at the number of 9+ rated songs released each of the past ten summers. Of course, 9+ rated songs aren’t the only songs worth listening to, but they’re the ones that get me most excited and a string of them constitutes a very strong period for K-pop. Looking at all the 9+ rated songs, including title tracks, b-sides and Japanese releases by K-pop acts/acts who perform on K-pop shows, here are the numbers for each year released between June 15th and the end of August:
2016 – 14 songs
2017 – 18 songs
2018 – 7 songs
2019 – 6 songs
2020 – 12 songs
2021 – 12 songs
2022 – 15 songs
2023 – 11 songs
2024 – 6 songs
2025 – 10 songs
2026 – 1 song (so far)
So yeah, you can see the issue here. For 2026 to measure up to even the weakest summers of the past decade, August is going to need to hit us with five 9+ rated tracks. I would love that to happen, but I’d be shocked if it does. And that one 9+ rated song of this summer? It was RIIZE’s Soar, which wasn’t even promoted.
Picking a top three this month felt like filling slots simply because they needed to be filled. I like all three songs but none are highlights in even an already weak year. We’re in a major slump, which was predictable given how all the reliably great groups of 2026 seemed to make their comeback between April and mid-June this year, leaving a long stretch of diminishing returns before they presumably (hopefully?) return in the fall. What makes a K-pop group “reliably great” is entirely subjective, but I wish the industry would spread my favorite acts out a bit more so that we don’t end up with these long doldrums.
J-pop had a stronger top song this month but was overall just as uninspired as K-pop. And surprisingly, global pop also seemed to take the month off. I loved Madonna’s album and cheered the long-awaited return of Serbian superstar Jelena Karleusa, but other than that my playlist was pretty empty. What the heck is going on?
In an effort to inject some positivity, I’ll share a few non-music things I’ve been enjoying this summer. For geek nostalgia, X-Men ’97 has been firing on all cylinders. For a riveting revenge drama, I’ve been loving Thailand’s Payback. For a big-screen epic, I thought The Odyssey was absolutely excellent. And for a fun reality dating show Stand Bi Me has been very charming. No spoilers on any of these, please!
Okay… back to music. I wish I could say I had high hopes for August, but the distinct lack of comeback announcements over the past week or two makes me fear next month might be even more barren than this one. I’d love to be wrong, as August has proven a big standout in recent years, but my optimism about the state of K-pop is at an all-time low at the moment. I really need something or someone to reignite the spark. Who or what will it be?
Month Cumulative Rating: 7.6
(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. Ozaki Takumi – Sonzai Shoumei (full review)
2. NXON – Ride Or Die (full review)
1. PG – Superstar (full review)
K-POP
Honorable Mentions
BABYMONSTER – I Like It (review)
DAILY:DIRECTION – Down With It (review)
fromis_9 – Vitamin ME (review)
Hui – BINGO (review)
Huta – Icy & Spicy (review)
KARD – Back To Life (review)
NouerA – .exe (review)
One Pact – U So Hot (review)
Peak & Pitch – Tell Me (review)
RESCENE – Pretty Girl (review)
TRENDZ – On My Knees (review)
VAYONN – MUAH! (review)
Young K – Shut The Door (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 JULY
3. Ascender – We Belong Together (review)
2. Wonho – Don’t Wake Me Up! (review)
1. AHOF – Run To You (review)
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of June 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of May 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of April 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of March 2026
Top Three K-Pop Songs Of February 2026