We’ll say it… 2025 was one of the best years for K-Pop yet! The continued global explosion of K-Pop was pushed to new levels thanks to K-Pop Demon Hunters, more idols expanding their world tours, and highly anticipated returns from the likes of G-DRAGON, MONSTA X, BLACKPINK, and GOT7. We could talk all day about our favorite K-Pop comebacks, but here (in alphabetical order) are 25 of the best from 2025.
aespa – Rich Man
We really didn’t think it was possible for aespa to have a better year than they did in 2024, but in 2025 they levelled up (… ‘Next Level?’). We loved ‘Dirty Work,’ but the Rich Man mini-album is our fave comeback from aespa this year. Each of the six tracks is a masterpiece that showcases aespa’s ever-evolving skillset, but if we had to pick a favorite other than the title track ‘Rich Man,’ then it would have to be the album closer, ‘To The Girls.’
ALL(H)OURS – Smoke Point
If hype energy K-Pop comebacks are your thing, then we hope Smoke Point was on your 2025 playlists! The title track, ‘GIMME GIMME,’ is another level of fiery and intense. It’s giving old school MONSTA X! 2025 was ALL (H)OURS’ second year since debut, and the growth they’ve shown in that time is so impressive. We can’t wait to see what happens for ALL (H)OURS next.
ATEEZ – GOLDEN HOUR: Part 3
As if the ‘Lemon Drop’ era hadn’t been enough, ATEEZ did not come to play with ‘In Your Fantasy’ and GOLDEN HOUR: Part 3. The album is a true ‘Masterpiece’ (pun somewhat intended), and we couldn’t have been more thrilled to get solo b-sides from each ATEEZ member! Our faves have got to be ‘Slide to me,’ ‘NO1,’ and ‘Sagittarius.’
BLACKPINK – ‘JUMP’
The world is always tuned in every time there’s a BLACKPINK comeback! In 2025, the quartet reunited for a world tour and the single, ‘JUMP.’ Naturally, the track is as vivacious and high-energy as anyone would expect from a BLACKPINK release. This time, though, as well as YG’s in-house team, ‘JUMP’ was co-written and co-produced by music juggernaut Diplo. Here’s to more BLACKPINK music in 2026…?
BOYNEXTDOOR – The Action
Between No Genre and The Action, it’s been a career-best year for BOYNEXTDOOR. Again and again, the group proves that they’re at the forefront of K-Pop and will continue to pioneer the 5th Generation. The members continue to get more and more hands-on, too, with Jaehyun, Taesan, Leehan, and Woonhak all contributing to the songwriting of the tracks, which focus on BOYNEXTDOOR’s group aspirations, with a sprinkle of their usual tongue-in-cheek spirit.
ENHYPEN – DESIRE: UNLEASH
As ever, in 2025, ENHYPEN took the time out of their hectic world tour schedules to release one of our favorite K-Pop comebacks. DESIRE: UNLEASH was first announced during ENHYPEN’s Coachella set, and that performance was probably a 2025 highlight, too. DESIRE: UNLEASH was stacked with hits, but our favorites have to be ‘Outside’ and ‘Helium!’
EVNNE – LOVE ANECDOTE(S)
The Honey POP stans EVNNE big time, and the release of their 5th mini-album, LOVE ANECDOTE(S), was no different! The title track, ‘How Can I Do,’ feels like several songs in one, but in the best way possible. From the R&B moments to the intense chorus, there’s an edge of 3rd Gen sensibilities in this song. The highlight, though, is the bass and drums breakdown underneath the fierce rap verses.
GOT7 – WINTER HEPTAGON
We’ll be real, we almost forgot that WINTER HEPTAGON was a 2025 release because it came out so early in the year! Nonetheless, we are always thrilled to have more GOT7 music in our lives. This album, which we had truly been dreaming of, brought all of our wishes to life. As always, GOT7 were hands-on in the creative process, with every member contributing to the writing and production. The lead single, ‘PYTHON,’ was exactly the statement GOT7 needed to make. “I know I’m an icon.” Yes, yes, you are.
G-DRAGON – Übermensch
The king of K-Pop finally returned in 2025! With an absolutely top-tier album, Übermensch, G-DRAGON firmly restated that he is not going anywhere, even if he keeps us waiting in between releases! From ‘POWER’ dropping at the end of 2024 to ‘TOO BAD’ to all the bsides, Übermensch is a masterpiece. And if you don’t wanna take our word for it, check out the cameos in the ‘TOO BAD’ MV to see who else is a fan of G-DRAGON, too.
Hearts2Hearts – FOCUS
Hearts2Hearts made the list of our favorite K-Pop debuts in 2025, but their first mini-album, FOCUS, was easily one of our fave comebacks, too! There’s something about the title track that makes it one of the most intriguing of the year, and it’s the perfect choice for Hearts2Hearts’ end-of-year stages as they entice more fans. “I cannot focus on anything but you,” is how Hearts2Hearts are making S2U feel!
ILLIT – ‘NOT CUTE ANYMORE’
‘NOT CUTE ANYMORE’ might be one of the most recent K-Pop comebacks from 2025, but it’s still one of the best! ILLIT is a group that knows their brand perfectly, and they know how to both embrace and expand it, too. ‘NOT CUTE ANYMORE’ is (sorry) super cute, whilst still showing a new side to the girls. We cannot wait to see how ILLIT continue to grow as we go into their third year as a group!
IVE – IVE EMPATHY
Doesn’t it feel like IVE has a career-best year, every year? Well, 2025 was no exception! Way back in February, the girls released IVE EMPATHY, which was immediately one of our fave IVE comebacks yet. Thanks to mega-hits ‘ATTITUDE’ and ‘REBEL HEART,’ this album quickly set the stage for IVE to exceed expectations once again.
JENNIE – Ruby
“Who wanna rock with JENNIE?” Umm… us please! Ruby was technically JENNIE’s debut solo studio album, but we’re including it as a comeback as she’d had official solo releases before. Having said that, Ruby definitely felt like a brand new start for JENNIE. Having worked with the likes of Dua Lipa, Childish Gambino, Diplo, and so many more, JENNIE gifted us with a cohesive, theatrical body of work. We waited for this album for so long, and it was so worth the wait!
j-hope – ‘MONA LISA’
Not satisfied with wrapping up his solo world tour, j-hope gifted us with a trio of iconic singles. It was so hard to pick just one of them for our top K-Pop comebacks list, but we’ve gone with ‘MONA LISA.‘ This track has been on repeat for us all year, and we reckon it’ll still be that way throughout 2026, too. From the slick choreography to the fun message, we love every part of this song.
KATSEYE – BEAUTIFUL CHAOS
KATSEYE spent 2025 “making beats,” and we couldn’t be more grateful to them for it. The girlies had their first comeback this year, the BEAUTIFUL CHAOS EP, led by ‘Gnarly’ and ‘Gabriela.’ Sometimes divisive but always talked about, everything these girls touch seems to turn to gold. Here’s to hoping that KATSEYE never go ‘M.I.A!’
LE SSERAFIM – ‘SPAGHETTI (feat. j-hope of BTS)’
Not only was ‘SPAGHETTI‘ one of our favorite K-Pop comebacks of 2025, but it’s maybe our favorite collaboration of the year, too! Every aspect of this release was iconic, from the styling to the TikTok trends to the packaging of the physical albums! The title track from this single album is fiery, mischievous, and tongue-in-cheek, which is basically all we could have wished for from the fimmies.
MEOVV – ‘BURNING UP’
MEOVV’s digital single ‘BURNING UP’ saw the girls take a different sonic direction than their previous releases, but this sounds works just as well for them! Still equally fierce, but with a brighter pop edge, ‘BURNING UP,’ as well as just being super fun, showcases how much MEOVV has grown in such a short amount of time.
MONSTA X – THE X
Was this the most highly anticipated comeback on this list? Maybe! MONBEBE had to suffer for literally years waiting for a group comeback, thanks to military enlistments, but we finally got it! The members didn’t come to mess around when they finally reunited either; 2025 has been stacked for them. As well as THE X, they celebrated their 10th anniversary, announced a 2026 world tour, and dropped the single ‘Baby Blue.’ We wanna see MONSTA X ‘N the Front’ row next year!
P1HARMONY – DUH!
Not only was DUH! one of our fave K-Pop comebacks in 2025, it also gave us one of the very best b-sides we’ve heard in a long time: ‘Pretty Boy.’ We’re not the only ones who think that, either! ‘Pretty Boy’ has actually overtaken the title track’s streams on Spotify! ‘DUH!,’ though, is totally worth celebrating too. Our favorite thing about the title track is its music video. Filled with references to their discography, lore details, and some classic P1H looks, it’s the perfect MV for fans both old and new.
Stray Kids – KARMA
There’s no way we couldn’t include Stray Kids on this list when both of the albums they released this year topped the Billboard 200, is there? Our fave 2025 comeback from the megastars has to be KARMA. Even if the music wasn’t incredible (which it is), the very fact it celebrates Stray Kids’ work ethic and all of their success (so far!) would be enough to earn KARMA a place in our hearts, and on this list.
TOMORROW X TOGETHER – The Star Chapter: TOGETHER
We’ll be honest, ‘Love Language,’ nearly made the list as a top K-Pop comeback in 2025, but then we thought: why have one TXT song, when you could have eight? The Star Chapter: TOGETHER was a special era for many reasons, not least because it wrapped up all of TXT’s lore and storyline for the past seven years! It also gifted us solo tracks from each member for the first time, and from the cuteness of ‘Sunday Driver’ to the moodiness of ‘Ghost Girl’ to the sensuality of ‘Dance With You,’ each and every one of these b-sides is a dream come true!
TWICE – THIS IS FOR
Like for TXT, we were torn for this pick. We nearly chose TEN: The Story Goes On as our fave TWICE comeback in 2025 because we’re just so thrilled about their tenth anniversary, but ultimately we couldn’t resist THIS IS FOR. The title track was one of the most underrated bops this year, and we will never, ever, stop watching clips of ‘Right Hand Girl’ from the
XLOV – I One
2025 was the year that we, and the world, fell totally in love with XLOV. Imma Be was one of our favorite debuts this year, and UXLXVE was a top album, so it’s only natural that I One would be one of our fave comebacks! Led by ‘1&Only,’ this era was what truly launched XLOV to the forefront of K-Pop. Even more than that, ‘1&Only’ and ‘BIZNESS’ had some of the best choreography of the year, and we cannot recommend the performance videos enough.
ZEROBASEONE – NEVER SAY NEVER
Well, first of all, we have to say that we’re very sorry to ‘BLUE,’ but how could we resist the pull of ‘ICONIK?’ ZB1 told us to “Let the rhythm flow through [y]our body,” after all! In another year filled with hits from this group, we were thrilled about this comeback for many reasons, not least because it was their first full-length album! With the future of ZEROBASEONE still a mystery, we’re glad that we, and ZEROSE, got to enjoy a full body of work from ZB1.
&TEAM – Back To Life
One of our favorite global groups finally had their official Korean debut! &TEAM released Back To Life, including the searing rock-inspired title track that earned &TEAM their first Korean music show win. However, the mini-album’s b-sides are what make this comeback so special. We’ll never stop watching performances of ‘Lunatic’ and ‘Mismatch.’
So there you have it, all of our top 2025 K-Pop comebacks, or at least 25 of them! Which is your favorite comeback? Did your ults make the list? Let us know! You can find us at @thehoneypop on Twitter, or by visiting us on Facebook and Instagram.
Want more K-Pop content? We got you!
Related
Anna Marie
Source link
