If you’re trying to get into kpop, don’t listen to the popular stuff. The reason behind this is that I noticed whenever someone is being showed a really popular kpop song that a kpop fan likes, that someone doesn’t really get into it. So my advice would not be to go with the popular songs, but rather show them the unpopular kpop songs that fits their taste more. Eventually the “someone” will get to the point where they will listen to the popular stuff too, but that’s on their own time. So keep in mind when listening to kpop, don’t try to follow the popular songs, they’ll eventually get to you. I know this because when I first listened to kpop, my sister showed me a bunch of really popular kpop songs from groups like SHINee, Super Junior, BIG BANG, 2NE1, etc. I never really got into their songs, but then my sister showed me the song “ONE SHOT” by B.A.P (an underrated group at that time) and I got completely hooked onto it. The reason behind it was that it was a mix of bad boy concept, hip hop, and dramatic violins playing. That was for some weird reason how I liked kpop. Then I explored more and found other similar groups like INFINITE and SS501 and many more. I later on supported those groups whenever they had a new song and so eventually it led to me finding some new groups again and bam, the popular songs hit and now I’m kpop trash (kpop trash basically means you’re very obsessed with kpop 24/7). I remembered trying to convince some of my friends to listen to kpop by showing them like BTS, EXO, and pretty much a bunch of the really popular kpop songs by popular artists, but they never got into kpop, but then I showed one of my friend (at that time was underrated) DAY6’s “I Wait” and my friend got into it. The song was pretty much rock and that was what my friend was into. So if anybody tries to convince someone else to listen to kpop, convince them with something they like instead of something you like cause in the end they’ll float to the top and like the popular kpop stuff and eventually becoming trash. If anybody wants a general kpop recommendation from me though, I can straight up and tell them 2 songs. “Love Scenario” by iKON and “SHINE” by PENAGON. These 2 songs have been major hits, but yet it’s so simple I think many people can enjoy it. The song seems like the kind of song that would try to get people to sit around the campfire and sing along even though most of us can’t sing well. Because at the moment, I like a bit more hip hop, so I’d pick something like “Sunshine” by HOODY (ft. Jay Park) or “NOAH” by HAON. I also like a little bit of ballad so something like “Untitled 2014” by GDRAGON, “Eyes, Nose, Lips” by Taeyang, or “Fix You” by G.Urban. R&B never really fails to get me to listen, so something like “Wedding Dress”, “Only Look At You”, “I Need A Girl” by Taeyang or “D (Half Moon)” and “Instagram” by DEAN would be my go-to.
There are more I’d recommend for a certain style, but I’d be sitting here and typing a long list for each category and I don’t want to do that so just comment down below and I’ll recommend you something.