What are the hottest songs of the 2000s?

Melon, a beloved source for Korean music, just released its list of top songs of the last decade from 2000 – 2010. Still, it’s valuable information and I bet there are people fighting on the forums right at this moment over how their favorite artist is over or underrated on this chart. Anyway, the chart showed some recognizable trends and varieties, which we will examine after the cut.

Top 10 from the list:

SNSD – Gee
Brown Eyes – Little by Little
Yoon Do Hyun – I must’ve love you
Big Bang – Last Goodbye
MC The Max – Time to Love
Brown Eyes – Already 1 Year
BoA – No. 1
Big Bang – Haru Haru
Position – I Love You
Wonder Girls – So Hot

Before we actually begin analyzing the list, here is how Melon calculated their chart: 40% was tallied from streams on their website and the other 60% from downloads on their website for the songs released after 2005. For songs from 2000 to 2004, it was 70% record sales and 30% air time respectively.

At the top of this chart we see the wildly famous ‘Gee’ from SNSD, with Brown Eyes and Yoon Do Hyun each tossing in hits of their own. Then the list shows a mix of R&B/ballad singers along with idols, 5 out of the top 10 being idols and the other half being ballads. The genre of Hiphop peaks at 31 with Jo PD, followed by Epik High at 43. One thing to note is that trot actually didn’t make an appearance, despite Jang Yoon Jung and her massive hit Umuna. Another thing to note is that anything that would be considered hard rock or heavier are nowhere to be found; all rock bands that showed up on the chart did so with songs that lean towards their softer side.

Hence, the Korean music industry according to Melon’s chart can be summed up as idols and ballad singers sharing the big pile while the rest nibble on crumbs.

While the list is very easy to understand and is from a source many love and trust, it does have loopholes and should be taken somewhat with a grain of salt. First, the chart that they refer to for rankings of songs released before 2005 uses a different calculation method and is not compatible with Melon’s chart. I would advise not to use this chart when making a comparison between a song released before 2005 and a song released after 2005. Second, the chart was compiled by ranking songs in order of how much streaming and downloads were made from Melon’s webpage. So sales made from other sources, such as people who bought the physical CD instead of downloading it from Melon, or people who bought their music from other websites, are not accounted for here. It also does not count for technological development and legal changes that happened along the way. For example, people used P2P programs such as Soribada to illegally download music until 2006, when the government finally shutdown Soribada. We have experienced much chance between 2006 to 2010 too, as digital music market showed growth while CD sales kept diving, meaning that newer songs have the advantage here. Those that studied economics might be familiar with the term inflation – and this chart isn’t adjusted for it. In short, the older the song is, the higher the chance that it is underrated or placed inappropriately on Melon’s chart.

Stay tuned to allkpop as we wait for Melon’s chart for hottest songs of the next decade in the 2010s. Hopefully, I’ll still be around then.

credit to allkpop~