The Top Ten K-Pop Artists To Listen To In 2023

Over the past decade, K-pop has slowly been gaining popularity with global audiences. Solo artists and groups of up to 23 members (as of 2023) produce and release music across many genres, captivating millions of listeners across the globe. The sheer number of online communities of fans on social media and forums are proof of that! Many of us know of the soloist PSY, who released the iconic Gangnam Style in 2012, or BTS, which is widely regarded as the most popular boy band in the world. But there are many other artists, some well-known and some not as much, that have been steadily becoming some of the hottest artists around today. Here are some of my personal favorites, and others that have been gaining a lot of popularity.

1. Stray Kids

Let's start it off with my personal favorite group, Stray Kids. Stray Kids is an eight-member group under JYP Entertainment consisting of members Bang Chan, Lee Know, Changbin, Hyunjin, HAN, Felix, Seungmin, and I.N, with the fandom name of STAY. (Nine members may be spotted in some earlier content; Woojin, who left the group in 2019, used to be their eldest member and is now a solo artist.) Many of their songs are of the hard-hitting hip hop genre, although some of their music is softer pop. Regardless of the genre, however, their music is always catchy and they have become extremely popular internationally since their formation during a survival program in 2017.

Stray Kids has become so popular that they have been able to go on multiple successful world tours, their most recent being MANIAC, which travels to multiple cities in Asia, Australia, and North America, ultimately completing 42 shows, many of which sold out completely. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend their day 1 show in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena, and it was worth every penny. This current tour begun in April 2022 and will end in April 2023. As the group's sayings go, Stray Kids Everywhere All Around The World, You Make Stray Kids STAY, and, of course, Stan Talent; Stan Stray Kids.

2. NewJeans

NewJeans is a girl group that debuted under ADOR, a subsidiary of HYBE Corporation. Members Haerin, Minji, Hyein, Danielle, and Hanni chose the fandom name of Bunnies on the 100th day after their debut in 2022. They quickly became the top group on the Melon hitlists, surpassing the popularity of even BLACKPINK and TWICE! They gained instant recognition as they debuted with 'Attention', their first single, with barely any warning, a rarity in the industry as group members are usually announced during their trainee days to build an initial fanbase. It's safe to say we will see NewJeans continue to grow in the future.

3. ENHYPEN

ENHYPEN is a boy band formed under Belift Lab, an agency under HYBE Corporation and CJ ENM. Group members Ni-ki, Jungwon, Sunoo, Heesung, Sunghoon, Jay, and Jake were other idols that became popular immediately after formation (also during a survival program!) as hoobaes (juniors) to BTS. ENGENE is their official fandom name, given after their debut in 2020. Songs like Blessed-Cursed, Drunk-Dazed, and Future Perfect (Pass The Mic) are some of their widely liked songs. My personal favorites are Blessed-Cursed and Future Perfect (Pass The Mic) due to their catchy beats and captivating melodies, not to mention the vocals and rap of the talented members.

4. GreatGuys

GreatGuys is one of my personal favorite boy bands. They are lesser-known and not as popular as many of the other groups on this list, but their fans and frequent listeners are of the opinion that the group is extremely underrated. They were formed in 2017 by DNA Entertainment with the members Horyeong, Haneul, Daun, Donghwi, Dongin, Hwalchan, Uiyeon, and Baekgyeol, with the fandom Grace. The members are talented at dance, rap, and vocals, which is clearly seen in their flawless, polished performances. My favorite songs by them are BLIND LOVE, Be On You, and Illusion. I've especially had BLIND LOVE on repeat!

5. TWICE

A girl group under JYP Entertainment that debuted in 2015, TWICE is comprised of nine members: Dahyun, Jihyo, Sana, Mina, Momo, Jeongyeon, Chaeyoung, Nayeon, and Tzuyu. Their fandom is called Once, who collectively make up one of the biggest fandoms in K-pop. Songs like The Feels, Feel Special, I Can't Stop Me, and FANCY are all well-known and popular.

A fun fact about TWICE and Stray Kids is that the team leader of Stray Kids, Bang Chan, is very good friends with the members of TWICE, especially Sana! They are often seen having friendly conversation, and have even done live broadcasts together. Its always fun to see inter-group friendships.

6. BTS

This one may be a no-brainer for many people, especially those that call themselves ARMY! BTS debuted under HYBE Corporation, then called Big Hit Entertainment, in 2013 with members Jin, SUGA, j-hope, RM (then Rap Monster), Jimin, V, and Jungkook. They originally were not taken seriously due to their... unconventional music at the time. However, over the next few years, they started winning more awards in Korea, Asia, and internationally, including multiple Daesang awards, once of the highest achievements an artist can earn, and they also received several Grammy nominations, unfortunately none of which were won. Several sold out world and continental tours have also been completed successfully by the group. Solo performances like j-hope's Lollapalooza performance (nicknamed Hobipalooza by ARMY) is another way the members have showcased their skills.

With the release of their anthology album, Proof, which also included several new tracks like Run BTS, the group started on more solo music and less group music. They said that, for now, they've said all they want to as a group, but have more to say individually, so while they are still doing group projects (like their variety show RUN BTS) and have not disbanded, the members are all working toward releasing solo singles and mixtapes. For example, j-hope released the mixtape Jack In The Box, which allowed ARMY to see a darker side of the artist, rather than the cheerful personality he's historically shown. SUGA released the mixtape D2 under his solo name, Agust D, and RM released Indigo, to name only a few examples of projects released within the last few years. BTS are continuing to not only entertain, but grow individually and as a group, not only as artists but as human beings as well. Fans have enjoyed watching their journey, and will continue to do so!

7. SEVENTEEN

SEVENTEEN is a boy band under Pledis Entertainment, which is another agency with the parent company of HYBE Corporation. The idol band has thirteen members (which I will explain in a moment), which include Mingyu, Hoshi, Jeonghan, Wonwoo, Joshua, DK, Woozi, The8, S.Coups, Junhui, Dino, Vernon, and Seungkwan who debuted in 2015. SEVENTEEN has only thirteen members because of the expression "13 members + 3 units = 1 group", a fact that was also explained to Jimmy Fallon by Wednesday actress Emma Myers, interestingly. My personal favorite song by the band is CHEERS, which is performed by SVT Leaders, the subunit including members Hoshi, S.Coups, and Woozi. Other popular songs include HOT and Snap Shoot.

8. Jessi

Let's move onto soloists now, shall we? First up is Jessi, widely regarded as the queen of rap. Her fans call themselves Jebbies, and they are some of the most devoted fans you'll ever meet. Jessi is originally from New York City, but moved to South Korea at age 15, knowing zero Korean, to pursue the dream of K-Pop like so many others have done. She originally cycled through many agencies, including SM Entertainment (which she didn't end up contracting with), YMC Entertainment, and P Nation, PSY's personal label, though she is currently working on setting up her own agency. She gained a lot of popularity with the song NUNU NANA, which she also taught to Eugene of The Try Guys during a try episode, and more recently with ZOOM, which appeared in an episode of She-Hulk. Despite being older than most K-pop idols (she is currently 34), she's going as strong as ever.

9. Jay Park

Jay Park is a rapper with his own agency, AOMG. He grew up in the Greater Seattle, Washington area (which is also my city!), and moved to Korea in 2005 to contract under JYP Entertainment. He was a member of the boy band 2PM from 2008-2010, and then left the group to pursue his solo career. Songs like BLUE CHECK (feat. Jessi) and Need To Know are well-known and popular.

10. Eric Nam

Eric Nam grew up in Atlanta, Georgia before pursuing music in Korea. He has signed under B2M Entertainment, and is the founder of DIVE Studios, where he launched the mental health management app Mindset and runs the Daebak Show, a podcast where he has spoken to many different artists - including Stray Kids' Bang Chan and Felix, Jackson Wang, and TXT's Yeonjun and Taehyun - about life and music. He is known for, as he says, giving TED Talks during his shows and doing multiple parts of Thirst Tweets with Buzzfeed. Songs such as I Don't Know You Anymore and Lost On Me have made him a well-respected artist, despite being teased about his "old" age (34 years)!

So, there you have it. This has been The Top Ten K-pop Artists To Listen To In 2023. I think that many of my personal opinions are similar to the wider community of K-pop fans, which gives me confidence that I can help people looking for new music to listen to find something they enjoy!