As with all things in life, the success of a K-pop song is subject to chaos and luck.
While many globally popular tracks do deserve their success, for every successful track there are dozens of others that are just as good but flew under the public radar for whatever reasons.
In other words, many K-pop tracks are criminally underrated.
What's our criteria for "underrated"? Well, the term itself is subjective and I'm sure some readers will point out that this song or that song isn't really underrated.
For me, I think any song that's top-tier material but falls way short of top-tier popularity (songs as popular as "Love Scenario" by iKON or "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" by Blackpink) is properly underrated.
And to measure popularity, I'll use the most globally recognized media platform: YouTube. Generally, 100 million views seems to be the most commonly used milestone for measuring a K-pop song's success on YouTube, so I'll be using 30 million views as the cut-off for underratedness.
For a baseline comparison, iKon's "Love Scenario" has 332 million views and Blackpink's "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du" has 935 million views.
1. "How People Move" by AKMU
2. "Mamma Mia" by SF9
3. "Like It" by CLC
4. "Hands Up" by B.A.P
5. "Mosquito" by Red Velvet
6. "Hush" by Everglow
7. "Good Tonight" by GOT7
8. "Pow Pow" by Elris
9. "Sunshine" by Sistar
10. "Get It" by Pristin V
11. "FM" by Crayon Pop
12. "Myself" by Monsta X
13. "Ladi Dadi" by AOA
14. "Cupid" by KARA
15. "Chase Me" by Dreamcatcher
16. "Heart Attack" by Loona
17. "Sting" by Stellar
18. "Airplane" by Iz*One
19. "I (Knew It)" by Sonamoo
20. "Still" by Loco
What to explore more K-pop goodness? Check out our list of K-pop essential listens, as well as the best of bubblegum K-pop music and the most addicting K-pop dance music videos.