Â鶹APP

The Most Popular Thai Songs of Recent Years

Mainstream Thai pop music has become somewhat more popular across Southeast Asia in the last few years.

There are various reasons for this such as the support for South Korean, Chinese, and Japanese artists and groups that comes from Thailand. This may have generated some reciprocal interest as the Thai pop culture industry is growing.

A lot of the new interest comes from the level of investment and promotion that goes into developing home-grown talent. In the last few years many Thai artists (or at least the labels behind them) have taken steps towards competing with the boy and girl groups from South Korea that have taken both Asia and other parts of the world by storm.

Of course when asking Thai people about popular Thai songs, many of the answers will be largely related to both level of interest and age groups, not to mention the regional preferences. It is quite difficult to dig out anything along the lines of a ‘Thai classic’ as there are various genres and sub-genres of music that appeal to different groups of loyal followers.  

Palmy by Fenawan from wikimedia commons

This doesn’t always depend on age either, as different regions also tend to favour the musical styles most related to their own culture, such as the popular Mor Lum and Luk Tung styles which originate in the north-eastern regions where many music lovers are largely oblivious to modern pop music trends as such. Neither of these styles could be considered as either modern or mainstream, although they remain hugely popular.

So in this post we are going to try and narrow things down a bit by taking a look at some popular Thai songs that might tend to go more into the modern, mainstream Thai pop category, and hence would be listened to by a somewhat younger audience. But we’ve also included a couple by the Mor Lum-style artists who you can see are incredibly popular and representative of certain aspects of Thai culture.

Getsunova by NTKanit from wikimedia commons

Most of these are songs from between 2019 and 2021 that give you the opportunity to explore other aspects of Thai culture that are not always so obvious, as these songs and artists are largely unknown outside of their native country.

So let’s take a deeper delve into some of the most popular Thai Pop songs of recent years and the artists behind them.

Zom Marie – Kidding

Zom Marie is a popular Thai-French singer who has had a good few hit songs and music videos over the last few years. The majority of them are in Thai language but she also releases some music in English.

Her song ‘Kidding’, which also had an English version, was one of the most popular Thai songs between 2020 and 2021. It reached the top 5 in Thai music charts, but somewhat more significant is the fact that the music video has had more than 17 million views on YouTube.

Hero featuring TXRBO – ‘Jam Loiie Rak’ (Defendant of Love)

Now we are talking Thai Pop with a hip-hop slant, which brings us to Jam Loiie Rak which translates as Defendant of Love.

This one is a collaboration between two Thai artists, and it did really well in 2021. The official music video on YouTube has been watched by more than 60 million viewers in total—true testimony to the popularity of both the song and the artist.

Anatomy Rabbit – Extraordinary

Extraordinary is an easy-listening Thai pop song that proved to be huge for this popular young Thai band.

Anatomy rabbit is usually categorised into the Thai ‘indie’ bracket that is forever growing in popularity. The band’s first hit was released in 2019, entitled ‘Are you out yet’ and judging by the number of views of the music video on YouTube – 30 million – it’s possible that things are looking good for the future for this band.

Ink Waruntorn – Eyes Don’t Lie

Ink Waruntorn is another popular young Thai female artist. You will have noted that Thai music lovers seem to like the music videos a lot, and the one for this particular song got 3 million views within its first week of release.

Like a lot of Thai pop, it’s fairly light and catchy with an ‘easy-listening’ feel to it. Ink has had a good run of popular songs and videos over the last couple of years or so.

Three Man Down – If You Really Love Me 

This song has remained popular since its 2020 release. Love songs are another main feature of Thai music along with the music video visuals. The obvious heartfelt emotional grief and emotion in this one got the music video around 50 million YouTube views. If that’s not proof that Thai music lovers dig their heartfelt love songs, then what is?

Getsunova – Kwaam Ngiap Dang Tee Soot (The Loudest Silence)

Getsunova is something of a veteran band in the Thai music world. They released the single ‘Kwaam ngiap dang tee sut’ and got a lot of attention from Thai music lovers, as can be seen from the fact that the song’s music video got more than 100 million views on YouTube.

Getsunova’s other songs have had a similar effect on Thai music fans, and last year’s ‘Praayk jam long’(Fake Hero) became the theme tune of a popular Thai drama series called ‘The Theory of Love’.

Palmy – Sorn Ga-lin (Tuberose Flower)

Eve Pancharoen, otherwise known as Palmy, is another popular female Thai singer who has been out of the limelight somewhat of late. This song of hers from 2021 though, seems to have stuck in the Thai music psyche.

Son Ga Lin is a song which tells a story about old relationships that can’t be forgotten.  It’s another easy-listening and almost soothing song, ideal for mainstream Thai pop music lovers. Not surprisingly, the supporting music video for this song has had more than 100 million views on YouTube.

Billkin – ‘Geet Gan’ (Skyline)

Bilkin’s ‘Geet Gan’ is another popular Thai pop song from the last couple of years. Bilkin is also an actor, but you can see from this song why his love for beautiful and heartstring-pulling lyrics makes him so popular.

This song gets bonus points for being the official theme tune of a top Thai romantic drama TV series called ‘I Told Sunset about You’.

URBOYTJ – Chuaay Mai Dai (I Can’t Help You)

Jirayut Palporakarn, otherwise known as the popular URBOYTJ released this song in 2021, and it became one of the year’s most played. URBOYTJ is a Thai singer sometimes considered a rapper who has a huge and loyal fan base across the country.

He has received various accolades over the years including ‘Artist of the Year’ at the JOOX Thailand Music Awards. A word of warning though – if you even slightly understand colloquial Thai at all, you’ll soon realise that some of the lyrics of this popular artist are somewhat on the explicit side, true to the hip hop style to which he aspires.

First Anuwat – Crazy

Another easy-listening, romantic-tinged pop song true to the Thai pop genre – ‘Crazy’ has the kind of simplistic message and heartfelt lyrics guaranteed to melt hit home with any young Thai music fan.

When you consider this line of the lyrics — “It takes only your smile to make me so crazy, my heart shivers, you’re way too cute” – you might get some insight into the nature and appeal of this artist. This song has a much-viewed music video that is, like many somewhat on the side of humour. First Anuwat released this song in 2021 and it soon became one of the year’s most popular.

Mario Joke – Ram Bai Sai Tong (Dance in the Golden Light)

Just to put a different slant on things it is only right that in this list we include at least one track from the massively popular Mario Joke. You can see from his name and the play on words – not to mention the incredibly popular accompanying music videos — that there is more than a little humour involved in the work of this young Thai artist.

Even though he is quite young, his style portrays the country-influenced, traditional Mor Lum style of music which always comes with entertaining and much-viewed music videos.

Especially popular with youngsters living in rural regions of Thailand, the accompanying video for this song is just one example of how popular this somewhat tongue-in-cheek artist can be, with 155 million views. If you want a real glimpse into the Thai psyche check out Mario Joke – and decide for yourself whether his comic genius is intentional or otherwise!

Jintara Poonlarp – Tao Noi (Little Turtle)

Jintara is a popular Thai artist of some standing who also featured in our post about popular Thai singers. She has been around for a decade or two and is also another hugely-popular purveyor of the country-influenced Mor Lum style so well-loved in north-eastern regions of Thailand.

This song was actually released around five years ago, and although the singer is still very active and popular, this particular tune is one that many people know and love. You can see from this music video and the majority of her others how entertaining the Mor Lum videos can be on a number of levels, this one with well over a hundred million views.