The High Three Ok-Pop Songs of January 2026

On the finish of every month, I look again at my three favourite title tracks by Ok-pop artists. I take my very own scores into consideration, however there’s a little bit of wiggle room as sure songs are inclined to develop or fade.

January 2026 General Ideas

January might be fairly thrilling for brand spanking new music. After a 12 months has wrapped up and its songs have been celebrated, we flip the web page and stay up for new alternatives. We’ve had some very robust Januarys previously few years (2024 and 2021 come instantly to thoughts) and these usually portend a robust 12 months to come back.

Sadly, this 12 months’s January was the weakest I can keep in mind in a lengthy time. Perhaps… ever?

I mentioned the identical about final month and couldn’t even decide three songs I assumed had been worthy of a “high three” placement. I received’t play that card once more, even when nothing actually stood out sufficient to warrant a celebration this month.

From a numbers perspective, January’s cumulative ranking is the bottom since Might of 2020 — a month that was marred by rare releases. So far as Januarys go, this was the bottom ever on The Bias Record aside from the very first month of 2016 proper after the weblog’s launch after I was nonetheless determining my scores system and tended to fee songs a lot decrease than I do now. As a reminder, that January gave us GFriend’s Tough — among the best songs of the previous decade. No such luck this 12 months.

It’s humorous. I actively comply with extra Ok-pop acts than ever earlier than, but all of them appear to enter hibernation for months earlier than making comebacks on the similar time. This has led to a couple bursts of pleasure every year, interspersed with huge stretches of nothing. We’re in a kind of stretches now and I’m unsure reduction is on the quick horizon. Even the one comeback I had been trying ahead to subsequent month (TWS) seems to not be a comeback in any respect however a re-release of an outdated observe in a brand new language. We’ve received some large names lined up for February however to this point not one of the teasers have grabbed me and the artists themselves have a fairly spotty observe document. Additionally, February is historically fairly sluggish with the Lunar New Years celebrations necessitating one other quick hiatus for the trade.

The factor is, I can take care of a low-rated month so long as it bears just a few highlights. Actually, such a month is preferable to those that provide a ton of respectable materials however no knock-it-out-of-the-park standouts. January was each underwhelming and missing highlights, making it a bore to cowl on the weblog. I attempted to supply attention-grabbing commentary to uninteresting songs, however there’s solely a lot I can do with the fabric I’m given!

My high three songs of January are a tremendous bunch. I don’t assume we’ll be seeing them in any year-end countdowns except 2026 continues to be very week (please, no!). I’m fairly assured in my best choice and fewer so in numbers two and three. Each songs are very current. One has grown on me, the opposite has fallen. We’ll see the place issues stack up in a month or so.

Fortunately, it was really a fairly robust month for J-pop. I actually like all my high three and even have some honorable mentions (XG’s Hypnotize, largely). Additionally, my absolute favourite J-pop track of January (Kento Nakajima’s Kesshou) was ineligible because it doesn’t (but) have a music video. Hopefully it’ll get promoted in February so I can have a good time it extra.

As I wrote earlier, I’m feeling fairly pessimistic about February’s possibilities to show Ok-pop’s non-momentum round, although I’d like to be confirmed flawed. With TWS off the desk, we’ve received some big-name artists scheduled (BLACKPINK, IVE, ATEEZ) that might go both approach. ZEROBASEONE’s farewell singles have left me chilly to this point so hopefully the final one will buck that pattern. All I do know is I really want a few 9+ rated highlights to reignite my pleasure. It’s been far too lengthy!

Month Cumulative Score: 7.3

(compiled by averaging the scores of each Ok-pop overview from this month)