2021 in South Korean music

The following is a list of notable events and releases that happened in 2021 in music in South Korea.

Notable events and achievements

 * January 9–10 – IU and BTS win the grand prizes at the 35th Golden Disc Awards.
 * February 28 – Leenalchi, Jeongmilla, and BTS win the grand prizes at the 18th Korean Music Awards.
 * March 4 – IFPI names BTS its Global Recording Artist of the Year for 2020—they are the first Asian and first non-English speaking act to top the ranking.
 * March 5 – "Dynamite" by BTS wins its 32nd music show win, the most out of any K-pop song in history, surpassing "Invisible Love" by Shin Seung-hun with 31 wins set in 1992.
 * March 13 – "On the Ground" by Rosé becomes the most viewed YouTube music video in 24 hours by a solo K-pop artist, surpassing the record set by Psy with "Gentleman" in 2013.
 * March 14 – "Rollin'" by Brave Girls wins the group's first music show award, following a surge in popularity due to a compilation featuring the group performing the song going viral.
 * March 22 – "Rollin'" breaks the record for most perfect all-kills by a female group since its inception in 2010, with 198 hourly PAKs.
 * June 1 – "Butter" by BTS becomes their fourth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, making them the fastest group to score four number ones since the Jackson 5 in 1970.
 * June 17 – Twice's Taste of Love attains a peak of number 6 on the Billboard 200, making them the first female Korean act to chart an EP within the top-ten, and the second female Korean act overall to enter the top-ten on the chart.
 * August 27 – Melon and Seoul Shinmun publishes their list of 100 Top K-pop Songs of All-Time, selected by a panel of 35 music critics and industry professionals.
 * September 1 – Stray Kids's Noeasy becomes their first album to sell over 1 million copies, making them the first act under JYP Entertainment to achieve the milestone.
 * September 10 – Blackpink becomes the most-subscribed music act on YouTube, surpassing Canadian singer Justin Bieber with 65.1 million subscribers.
 * September 13 – Lisa's "Lalisa" becomes the most-viewed video by a solo singer on YouTube within 24 hours, garnering 73.6 million views.
 * CL and Rosé become the first South Korean female musicians to attend the Met Gala in New York City.
 * September 15 – "Dynamite" is included in Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
 * October 28 – Lee Jang-hee is awarded the Eungwan Cultural Medal at the Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards.
 * November 3 – NCT 127's Sticker and its repackage Favorite records a total of 3.58 million units in sales, the highest figure for a combined album by an SM Entertainment artist.
 * November 21 – BTS wins three awards at the American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year, the first Asian act to do so.
 * December 4 – IU, Aespa, and BTS win the grand prizes at the 2021 Melon Music Awards.
 * December 11 – Lee Hyori hosts the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards, the ceremony's first female host.
 * BTS wins all four grand prizes at the 2021 MAMA.

Debuting groups

 * Billlie
 * Blitzers
 * bugAboo
 * Ciipher
 * Epex
 * Hot Issue
 * Ichillin'
 * Ive
 * Just B
 * Kingdom
 * Lightsum
 * Luminous
 * Mirae
 * NTX
 * Omega X
 * Pixy
 * Purple Kiss
 * TFN
 * Tri.be
 * WJSN The Black
 * Xdinary Heroes

Solo debuts

 * Adora
 * B.I
 * BamBam
 * D.O.
 * Do Han-se
 * I.M
 * Jay B
 * Jinyoung
 * Joy
 * Jo Yu-ri
 * Kwon Eun-bi
 * L
 * Lee Seung-hyub
 * Lisa
 * Park So-yeon
 * Rosé
 * Sorn
 * Wendy
 * Young K
 * Youngjae
 * Yugyeom
 * Yuqi

Disbandments

 * 100%
 * 1Team
 * AOA Black
 * B.O.Y
 * Berry Good
 * ENOi
 * GFriend
 * Hotshot
 * Iz*One
 * NTB
 * Seven O'Clock
 * Sonamoo
 * Voisper
 * We in the Zone

Deaths

 * Iron, age 29. Rapper.