BLACKPINK, BTS, and More: Genius Korea Selects The Best Albums of 2020

By Alexa Lewis Jan 06, 2021

Despite the situation of the world last year, 2020 was a year of amazing K-pop releases. To remember these masterpieces, Genius Korea selected their top albums of the year. Keep on reading to see which albums they chose!

Genius Korea's Year-End Charts are compiled by the Genius Korea community moderators. The chart only takes into account albums that were released in 2020. The data that is used to compile the chart includes total page views on their platform, as well as concurrent page views via lyric searches on Genius.

The top album as selected by Genius Korea is the first-ever full-length album of BLACKPINK, "THE ALBUM"! "THE ALBUM" was released on Oct. 2, 2020, and contains eight songs, two of them being pre-release singles. "THE ALBUM" explores BLACKPINK's more mature side, singing about themes of love and the complexity of maturing and growing up. "THE ALBUM" consists of pop, R&B, hip-hop, EDM, and trap elements.

(Photo : YG Entertainment)

"THE ALBUM" debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, making it the highest-charting female K-pop album and the highest-charting album by an all-female girl since 2008's "Welcome to the Dollhouse" by Danity Kane. "THE ALBUM" topped the charts in New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea and made the top ten in numerous countries such as Germany, Australia, Canada, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Austria, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Scotland, Slovakia, and Sweden.

"THE ALBUM" solidified BLACKPINK as the first million-seller girl group in K-pop, selling over a million copies in less than a month of its release. It was also certified as a million for over one million shipments in Korea, according to the Korea Music Content Association (KMCA).

(Photo : YG Entertainment)

The second best album selected by Genius Korea is BTS's Nov. 20, 2020 release, "BE". The album talks about BTS's thoughts and feelings the band experienced during the coronavirus pandemic. All of the members contributed to creating the album, contributing to the songwriting, development, production, visual aspects, and more. The album is a fusion of hip-hop, EDM, and disco and incorporates synth-pop, neo-soul, funk, R&B, and dives into numerous eras of music. The songs touch on comfort, anxiety, depression, sadness, hope, joy, loneliness, and more.

(Photo : Big Hit Entertainment)

"BE" debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, marking BTS as the fastest group to earn five chart-topping albums. The title track of the album, "Life Goes On", debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making BTS the only act besides Taylor Swift to simultaneously debut on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200. The album topped the charts in Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Lithuania, Norway, South Korea, Japan, Poland, and the Flemish region of Belgium. It also reached the top 5 in 14 different countries including Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Sweden, Scotland, and the Netherlands.

Overall, the album was praised by music critics. It was applauded for its authenticity and simplicity as it shared a message of both comfort and hope during these trying times.