Melon, South Korea’s leading music streaming platform under Kakao Entertainment, has analyzed 20 years of playlist data to determine the most-beloved songs and artists. The study examined over 102 million playlists and 12.84 million songs by 1.13 million artists.
### Paul Kim’s Song Dominates Playlists
Paul Kim’s hit song ‘Every Day, Every Moment’ was crowned the most-added track, appearing in 3.92 million playlists from 2.13 million users. Since its release in 2018, the song has remained in Melon’s annual Top 100 chart for seven consecutive years, proving its lasting popularity.
### IU Named Most-Added Artist
IU emerged as the most-added artist on Melon, with her songs appearing 91.85 million times across 16.97 million playlists. Her continuous string of hits since her debut in 2008 solidifies her as a national favorite. BTS ranked second with 9.5 million playlists, followed by Taeyeon with 11.14 million.
### International Acts: Maroon 5 and Justin Bieber Take the Lead
Among foreign artists, Maroon 5 and Justin Bieber took the top spots. Maroon 5’s tracks were featured 23.08 million times across 7.65 million playlists, while Justin Bieber appeared in 8.4 million playlists, totaling 22.41 million inclusions.
### Ballads Dominate Melon’s Top 10
The analysis also revealed a strong preference for ballads in Melon’s most-added domestic songs. Other notable artists in the Top 10 include AKMU, Ailee, Sung Si-kyung, MeloMance, JANNABI, and Heize. For international tracks, Anne-Marie’s ‘2002’ and Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ stood out with 3.02 million and 2.75 million playlist inclusions, respectively.
### Melon’s User Event: Share Your Music Story
In celebration of its 20-year milestone, Melon is running an event where users can share personal stories around their playlists through the ‘Music DNA’ feature in the Melon app. Selected stories will be featured in video content on social media, and participants stand a chance to win prizes like an Apple Watch.
With decades of data now analyzed, one thing is clear—music trends may change, but some songs remain timeless favorites.
