'APT.' 61 times, 'BLACKHOLE' zero: how many times do chart songs sing their own titles?

How many times does a song actually sing its own title? We counted through the Bugs lyrics of all 100 songs on the Bugs weekly chart for the last week of September (September 28–October 4). Cases where the title was written with only different spacing or punctuation counted as the same word. The song that sings its title the most does so 61 times, and nine songs never sing it at all. We picked six from the high end, one that sings it exactly once and three that never do. This is ordered by count, not a ranking.

61 times · ROSÉ & Bruno Mars 'APT.'

The title is the English abbreviation 'APT.', but in the lyrics it's sung 61 times as the Korean word '아파트' (apartment). That's because '아파트 아파트' repeats back to back in every chorus. There isn't a single line where 'APT' is written in English. It came out in October 2024. Apple Music

46 times · BIGBANG 'BiiiG'

The title is stretched out with three i's, but in the lyrics it appears 46 times as a plain 'big'. Many lines pile it up, like 'Everything big big big big'. It's a single released August 19. Apple Music

37 times · KiiiKiii '404 (New Era)'

The number 404 appears 37 times, as in '404 Not Found in the system'. 404 is the error code that pops up on the internet when the page you're looking for doesn't exist. The subtitle in parentheses, 'New Era', also appears 14 times on its own. The song is from the EP 'Delulu Pack', released January 26. Apple Music

36 times · ATEEZ 'BAD'

It's 36 thanks to a chorus that crams it into one line again and again, like 'She's so BAD BAD BAD'. It's the title track of the 14th mini album 'GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5', released June 26, and the music video story is in our October 13 detail story. Apple Music

33 times · RESCENE 'Pinball'

Lines like '어질어질 시작된 Pinball (Game)' plus the '(Pinball)' in parentheses add up to 33. It's the second title track from the first mini album 'SCENEDROME', released in August 2024. The story of RESCENE's five songs is in our October 12 list. Apple Music

24 times · CORTIS 'REDRED'

The title is written solid as 'REDRED', but in the lyrics it appears 24 times as 'red-red' in parentheses, as in '팔랑귀 팔랑귀 (that's red-red)'. The song is from the EP 'GREENGREEN', released April 20. Apple Music

Once · SOYEON '퇴사할게여' ('I'm gonna TOESA')

This is the No. 1 song on the same chart, yet the title appears exactly once, in the very first line. And even then, it's not the title's '퇴사할게여' but '퇴사할게요', the standard spelling of "I'm quitting." The song carries on in polite speech, with lines like '모두 안녕히 계세요' ("goodbye, everyone") and '여행 갈까요' ("shall we go on a trip"), and rounds off the chorus with 'It was a romantic day'. It came out September 7, and the music video story is in our October 9 detail story. Apple Music

0 times · IVE 'BLACKHOLE'

Nowhere in its 68 lines of lyrics is there a 'black' or a 'hole'. The song is on 'REVIVE+', released February 23. Apple Music

0 times · HANRORO '입춘' ('Let Me Love My Youth')

The title, '입춘', the name of the seasonal day that marks the start of spring, never appears in the lyrics. Instead, words containing '봄' (spring) appear six times, and '첫 봄인사를 건네줘요' ("give me your first spring greeting") repeats three times. The first line is '얼어붙은 마음에' ("to a frozen heart"). It came out in March 2022. Apple Music

0 times · JANNABI '주저하는 연인들을 위해' ('For Lovers Who Hesitate')

Neither '주저' (hesitate) nor '연인' (lovers) appears in its 28 lines of lyrics. The first line is '나는 읽기 쉬운 마음이야' ("I'm a heart that's easy to read"). It's on the second full album '전설' ('Legend'), released in March 2019, and in our October 13 list we introduced it as the song whose ending fades out together over 25 seconds. Apple Music

The other six songs that never sing their titles are TAEYEON's '만찬가', LEE CHANGSUB's '천상연' and '사계, 그리고 너', HANRORO's '0+0', Choi Yu Ree's '생각을 멈추다 보면' and N.Flying's 'Flashback'.