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BGC: NOTES / Music Now

Jul 25, 2026Music Now4 min read

What appears before No. 1: Melon’s July Top 10

Melon’s top 10 for July 13–19 looks less like a runaway winner than a set of songs arriving at the same moment. Two tracks from one act, pop singles with different temperatures, and one long-staying song all move at different speeds inside the same frame.

Written by 820eyesSEOUL
In Brief

This week’s top 10 does not declare one sound the winner. A second entry, different upward momentum, and songs that refuse to leave sit side by side as a record of a week’s listening habits.

Chart Snapshot

Jul 13 — Jul 19, 2026

Melon Weekly Chart · All Genres ↗
  1. 01LOVE ATTACKRESCENE▲ 2
  2. 02SuddenlyI.O.I▼ 1
  3. 03REDREDCORTIS▼ 1
  4. 04LEMONADEaespa▲ 1
  5. 05It’s MeILLIT▼ 1
  6. 06Pretty GirlRESCENE▲ 20
  7. 07Paradise of RumorsAKMU▼ 1
  8. 08Catch CatchYENA▼ 1
  9. 09DrowningWOODZ▲ 1
  10. 10RUDE!Hearts2Hearts▼ 1

The story between No. 1 and No. 6

This week’s No. 1 is RESCENE’s “LOVE ATTACK.” At No. 6 sits the same act’s “Pretty Girl,” up 20 places from last week. When one act appears twice in the top 10 with two different songs, it reads less like a single flash of attention and more like listening that is continuing inside the artist’s own small world.

Which song gets played first is interesting. What gets pressed next is more interesting. A chart sometimes shows the success of one song; when two songs travel together, a short world forms around the act.

The protagonist of a chart is not always No. 1

aespa’s “LEMONADE” at No. 4 and WOODZ’s “Drowning” at No. 9 each rose one place. I.O.I, CORTIS, ILLIT, AKMU, YENA, and Hearts2Hearts each slipped one. This is not a week of dramatic replacement so much as a week of small adjustments near the top.

That makes this top 10 feel closer to a record of friction than an explosion. Small movements show not that listening has disappeared, but how tightly different songs are dividing the same stretch of time.

The unit of listening made by ten songs

There are direct titles like “LOVE ATTACK,” “REDRED,” “LEMONADE,” and “RUDE!”, and titles that leave an emotional scene behind, such as “Suddenly,” “Paradise of Rumors,” and “Drowning.” These songs resist a single mood. That is precisely why the chart looks like a playlist for one week.

A chart does not offer an answer. It offers a thin clue about which kind of pop tension people enter through now, and which emotional songs hold them a little longer. Good production begins by reading that clue.