IMDb’s 20 Most Popular K-Dramas Ranked

IMDb (Internet Movie Database), the popular online repository of information on movies, TV shows, and celebrities, recently unveiled a list of the 20 most popular K-dramas.

Based on the actual page views of over 200 million monthly visitors to IMDb worldwide, the site lists the following K-dramas as the 20 titles that have been a hit with IMDb users:

1. Squid Game (2021)

With a series of twisted classic Korean children’s games, Squid Game, set in Seoul, explores the desperate and indebted bids of participants for survival and enormous prize money. Their reality, that losing every game results in death adding a staggering sum to the total, quickly sets in.

Seong Gi-hun (Lee Jung-jae), one of the players, forms alliances with the rest through the blood-curdling process and eventually prevails on his own. His choice to turn around rather than board the plane ends the first season, making room for the second.

2. All of Us Are Dead (2022)

This K-zombie reimagines the zombie apocalypse. An experiment gone wrong results in a zombie outbreak at Hyosan High School, leaving stranded students without food, water, or a means of communication (cut off by the government). The coming-of-age horror thriller takes issue with bullying, cybercrime, and social networking, among other relevant issues that plague society today.

3. Kingdom (2019)

Revelations of the corrupt intentions of the ruling class cause suffering for all when a corpse king awakens and unleashes a mystery plague. Lee Chang (Ju Ji-hoon) must thus face a wave of terrifying foes for the good of Joseon.

While the city-state is in turmoil, he discovers allies trying to guard Sangju, in North Gyeongsang Province, from the virus, only to learn that it has already mutated.

4. Crash Landing on You (2019)

Following a paragliding accident that brings chaebol heiress Yoon Se-ri (Son Ye-jin) from South Korea into North Korea, local special officer Captain Ri Jeong-hyeok (Hyun Bin) feels compelled to look after her; in the process, the two fall deeply in love.

Time, factionalism, potentially life-threatening situations, and complex family dynamics all test this cross-border love story, but Crash Landing on You is best in the way it paints a symbolic representation of a need for love and peace between the two countries. 

5. Sweet Home (2020)

This is a post-apocalyptic horror blockbuster whose expertly orchestrated mayhem and scares foreshadow its sequels. It’s an opus of spooky visuals, the best special effects, and implicit messages. 

Sweet Home gets nightmarish when the Green Home apartment’s occupants turn into vicious creatures on a killing spree. Confused and feeling threatened, Cha Hyun-su (Song Kang) begins to exhibit monster tendencies, becoming one with the beast inside as the story advances.

6. Hellbound (2021)

Between 2022 and 2027, Hellbound has decreed to sentence chosen people to hell at specific moments by an inexplicable, unsettling face. At the designated moment, three colossal beings shred and blister the targets. This is when conspiracy groups—the cult-like New Truth Society and the gang-like Arrowhead group—begin to play on fear.

Hellbound is a Korean dystopian drama that defines itself with excellent visual effects and scenes that are equally crude and stimulating.

7. It’s Okay to Not Be Okay (2020)

A huge success story of heartwarming romance, deeper implications, and catharsis, it has Moon Gang-tae (Kim Soo-hyun) and his autistic elder brother Moon Sang-tae (Oh Jung-se). Gang-tae is a caregiver in a psychiatric unit where he meets the overbearing famous children’s book author Ko Moon-young (Seo Yea-ji).

Despite her lack of social skills, she pursues him and learns that they have similar pasts. Dark secrets gradually come to light as she and the Moon brothers heal each other’s pain while Gang-tae and Moon-young fall in love. 

8. Vincenzo (2021)

Vincenzo Cassano (Song Joong-ki), an Italian lawyer and Mafia consigliere of Korean birth, travels to Seoul—as part of his campaign against the massive conglomerate Babel Group—to retrieve half a ton of gold that he helped his business partner covertly stash in the Geumga Plaza basement.

To access the riches, the building must be demolished. But Babel Group has illegally seized it to tear it down and construct a commercial complex. Vincenzo, thus, joins forces with the Geumga Plaza residents and lawyer Hong Cha-young (Jeon Yeo-been), employing his expertise to accomplish his goal.

9. The Glory (2022)

In this dramatic vengeance thriller, high schooler Park Yeon-jin (Im Ji-yeon) and her friends relentlessly harass and physically assault Moon Dong-eun (Song Hye-kyo), now an elementary school homeroom teacher. She returns decades later with a carefully thought-out plan of revenge directed at the perpetrators and bystanders.

Dong-eun brings matters to the brink of justice at the very end of the first part of the story, but the second part reveals how she operates—every detail of her vendetta—to execute it effectively and wreck the offenders’ lives.

10. Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022)

Extraordinary Attorney Woo, starring Park Eun-bin as the titular Young-woo, a rookie lawyer at Hanbada Law Firm with Asperger’s syndrome, is a groundbreaking legal drama.

Despite her cognitive abilities and photographic memory, Young-woo’s idiosyncrasies make it challenging for her to interact with others. Nonetheless, she is a genius; there’s none like her when it comes to the courtroom.

11. My Name (2021)

Yoon Ji-woo (Han So-hee) joins a crime lord and the police to hunt down her father’s murderer. Her sorrow and heartbreak are reflected in the upheavals she experiences before and after her dad passes away. She is humiliated and mistreated, but she trains hard to get back, emerging like a warrior queen who crushes criminals like a raging storm.

12. Alchemy of Souls (2022)

In this fantasy set in the fabled realm of Daeho, souls can switch bodies thanks to a cursed spell called the “alchemy of souls.” Jang Uk (Lee Jae-wook), a nobleman in Daeho, is a rebel and carries a grim secret.

He inadvertently meets Mu-deok (Jung So-min), whose body carries the soul of a formidable wizard and adept combatant. As she takes on the role of Jang Uk’s servant, she also teaches him how to fight to help him rewrite his fate.

13. The Silent Sea (2021)

A crewed mission seeks samples from a lunar research outpost in the dystopian future of The Silent Sea, when a severe drought is sweeping over Earth and strict rules for water consumption have been implemented. 

The sci-fi follows Han Yoon-jae (Gong Yoo), a space agency soldier, and astrobiologist Doctor Song Ji-an (Bae Doona) and their team, who are off to the moon for samples from the now-defunct, enigmatic lunar space station.

14. Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016)

An eternal goblin (Gong Yoo) is pursuing his wife (Kim Go-eun), the only one capable of extracting an invisible sword from his chest.

The drama is a beautifully imagined fantasy romance saga with the important takeaway: love is omnipotent and our pursuit of what we want is ultimately fueled by intense desire, perseverance, and faith.

15. King the Land (2023)

This romantic comedy, with Lee Jun-ho (2PM) and Im Yoon-ah (Girls’ Generation), draws on Cheon Sa-rang (Im), a hotelier known for her smile, whose life changes when she meets Goo Won (Lee), the heir to the opulent hotel empire she works for, The King Group. Their conflicting personalities steadily attract them closer to each other amid a heated inheritance dispute that Goo Won is forced into.

16. Itaewon Class (2020)

Itaewon Class is unique, dispels myths, and promotes diversity.

Upon the death of his father in an accident and his incarceration, Park Sae-ro-yi (Park Seo-joon) hatches a plan to kill the son of an influential man. He hopes to flourish and wreak revenge after being set free by opening DanBam, a bar-restaurant in the bustling neighborhood of Itaewon, but he lacks business acumen. At this juncture, he encounters the vivacious Jo Yi-seo (Kim Da-mi).

She volunteers to become the manager of DanBam since she has feelings for Sae-ro-yi. Through their hardships and growth as individuals, Yi-seo and Sae-ro-yi forge an emotional connection that culminates in love.

17. Descendants of the Sun (2016)

Descendants of the Sun—bursting with romance, emotion, humor, and action—is the quintessential Korean drama. It centers on the war-torn region of Uruk, as members of the Alpha squad, including Captain Yoo Si-jin (Song Joon-ki) and Seo Dae-young (Jin Goo), are entrusted with freeing captives and putting an end to terrorist activities.

The men, together with First Lieutenant Yoon Myeong-joo (Kim Ji-won), Doctor Kang Mo-yeon (Song Hye-kyo), and the Haesung Hospital Medical Services personnel, unite to get past adversities.

18. Mr. Sunshine (2018)

A native of Joseon, Eugene Choi (Lee Byung-hun) flees to the United States and enlists in the Marine Corps as an officer after the Shinmiyangyo (Battle of Ganghwa) in 1871. When he returns to Joseon with a task, Go Ae-shin (Kim Tae-ri), an exemplary army soldier, wins his heart. However, her fiancé, their differing backgrounds, and the subsequent events put love to the test.

19. True Beauty (2020)

True Beauty helps reinstate faith in one’s self-worth. Lim Ju-kyung (Mun Ka-young) in its story is a high-school student who endures pain from others and is frowned upon by her family for her unattractiveness.

On the other hand, Lee Su-ho (Cha Eun-woo) is a campus dreamboat but carries scars despite his tough exterior. When Ju-kyung enrolls in his school, she finds a fix in online tutorial videos showing her how to apply makeup. Her makeover proves effective as she gets popular at her new school overnight. Su-ho, meanwhile, sees through her façade and is drawn to her true self.

20. Stranger (2017)

Hwang Si-mok (Cho Seung-woo), a model prosecutor who is hypersensitive to specific sound frequencies, leads in the crime drama thriller, also known as Forest of Secrets. 

Following corrective surgery, he meets Police Lieutenant Han Yeo-jin (Bae Doona) while digging into a murder, who helps him crack the case. They notice that an illicit scheme is persistently impeding their efforts as they try to solve the murder’s mystery.

Watch the full video here: The 20 Most Popular Korean Shows on IMDb | The Quintessential K-Drama List