What K-Pop landed on Rolling Stone’s “100 Best Songs of 2023,” and how much ended up on the list?

There’s been much discussion since the release of Rolling Stone Magazine’s “100 Best Songs of 2023” list, with a couple of surprise appearances in the list that feels this year dominated by country artists - perhaps that crossover appeal with “mainstream” music listeners is happening again. 

But one of the questions some K-Pop fans may ask is who from their world of music appeared within the list - if indeed any did appear at all. 2023 has been a near watershed moment for K-Pop, with BTS members achieving solo acclaim, BLACKPINK becoming the first South Korean pop act to headline a British music festival, and the general assault on the Billboard and UK charts. 

Rest assured, while it might not be the overwhelming number of K-Pop artists within Rolling Stone’s list (there was a lot of music this year in their defence), there are still several acts, both K-Soloists and as part of a unit, that have appeared within the list.  One of which, NewJeans, earned a position within the top ten songs of 2023 with their ludicrously catchy single, Super Shy.

Elsewhere within the list, there are nods to SEVENTEEN and TWICE, while the solo efforts of BTS’s V and BLACKPINK’s Jisoo are also recognised in this year’s list. In total, there are nine acts from the K-Pop world in the Rolling Stone list - which if high school math taught us correctly, represents 9% of the list.

The K-Pop acts that appeared on Rolling Stone’s “100 Best Songs of 2023” list

Original placement in the list appears in brackets

1. NewJeans - “Super Shy” (6)
2. Seventeen - “Super” (47)
3. TWICE - “Moonlight Sunrise” (55)
4. V - “Rainy Days” (58)
5. Jisoo - “Flower” (67)
6. FIFTY FIFTY - “Cupid” (75)
7. XG - “Left Right” (77)
8. aespa - “Spicy” (95)
9. Jung Kook feat. Latto - “Seven” (99)

The top ten songs from Rolling Stone's "Best Songs of 2023" list

1. Eslabon Armado and Peso Pluma - “Ella Baila Sola”
2. PinkPantheress feat. Ice Spice - “Boy’s a Liar, Pt. 2”
3. Lana Del Rey - “A&W”
4. Zach Bryan feat. Kacey Musgraves - “I Remember Everything”
5. Shakira and Bizarrap - “Bzrp Music Sessions, Vol. 53”
6. NewJeans - “Super Shy”
7. Olivia Rodrigo - “Get Him Back!”
8. Lil Yachty - “Strike (Holster)”
9. Billie Eilish - “What Was I Made For?”
10. Victoria Monét - “On My Mama”