ATEEZ has swept both top honors in JoyNews24’s 22nd anniversary survey, with “BAD” voted Song of the Year and the group itself voted Artist of the Year.
JoyNews24 conducted the survey from October 15 to 21 among 142 entertainment industry professionals, including staff at entertainment and broadcast companies, content producers, and entertainment journalists. In the Song of the Year category, ATEEZ’s “BAD” took first place with 27 votes, while the group also collected 27 votes to top the Artist of the Year ranking.
According to JoyNews24, the song’s rise was driven by its choreography and performance. Fancams and short-form challenges spread rapidly across major social platforms, carrying the track well beyond the group’s core fandom. Member San’s standout choreography moment became a particular talking point, matching the song’s sharp concept and helping the performance stick in the public’s mind.
The outlet also credited the track’s direct, high-impact sound for working in step with the choreography, and praised the group’s stable live vocals even during demanding routines. ATEEZ built much of its career overseas first, JoyNews24 noted, and performances from international festivals and concerts then fed back into South Korea, lifting the song on domestic charts and streaming.
The rest of the Song of the Year ranking underlined how broad the year’s listening was. RESCENE’s “LOVE ATTACK” finished second with 21 votes after a slow-burn resurgence that carried the 2024 release to No. 1 on music sites in July. AKMU’s “Sorumui Nakwon” placed third with 15 votes, followed by Hwasa’s “Good Goodbye” with 13 and CORTIS’s “RedRed” with 12.
In the Artist of the Year vote, RESCENE finished second with 25 votes and BTS third with 24, after the latter’s full-group return earlier this year. AKMU placed fourth with 13 votes, while BIGBANG, marking its 20th anniversary, rounded out the top five with eight.
The double win caps a remarkable run for “BAD.” The track is the title song of ATEEZ’s 14th mini album, “GOLDEN HOUR: Part.5,” released on June 26 through KQ Entertainment, and its music video passed 100 million YouTube views on October 17, becoming the group’s sixth video to reach that milestone.
The report did not include a separate statement from KQ Entertainment. With the survey framing “BAD” as the year’s defining K-pop moment at home, attention now turns to how ATEEZ follows it up.
