25 years ago, K-dramas wouldn't be seen by many international audiences, but South Korean television has gone international in a big way thanks to streaming services, and some of the best K-dramas of all time can be viewed all over the world. Just because a series is a K-drama doesn't mean the show features solely dramatic storylines. The classification is given to series produced in South Korea, but they can run the gamut of genres from romantic comedy to thriller to fantasy, making for some drastically different content.

K-dramas are a huge trend that isn't stopping anytime soon and for good reason. K-dramas have taken over streaming platforms like Netflix thanks to the popularity of shows like Squid Game, and fans are hooked, binging series after series. Some shows take romance and comedy to a new level that isn't seen on American television, combining soapier aspects with slice-of-life story ideas. On the flip side, there are unique thrillers that have viewers' hearts racing with each ing episode. The best K-dramas include a huge variety of television.

40 Forecasting Love And Weather (2022)

Human Relationships Are Compared To The Weather

Rom-coms are one of the most prevalent genres among K-dramas. This newer entry into the genre takes a unique approach to telling its story. It’s a workplace drama to an extent as it surrounds those who work for the National Weather Service of South Korea. It uses the weather conditions they experience and forecast as a metaphor for changing relationships though, which makes for a great way for the audience to connect the workplace themes in the episodes to the relationship drama playing out as well.

The drama and the weather themes make for a unique entry into the genre.

The series stars K-drama veterans Song Kang and Park Min-young as colleagues who fall for one another right after one of them gets promoted to be the boss in their division. Their characters also share a unique history in that their exes cheated on them and married one another - and both work in the same building. The drama and the weather themes make for a unique entry into the genre.

39 While You Were Sleeping (2017)

Three People’s Lives Are Intertwined Thanks To Visions Of The Future

Not to be confused with the American romance movie of the same name, While You Were Sleeping has more to do with premonitions during dreams than it does a love interest in a coma. Suzy Bae, who has starred in a slew of K-dramas, stars here as a journalist whose dreams act as visions of the future.

The woman wakes up one day to find that her new neighbor is someone she’s seen in her premonitions. After they meet, the neighbor (Lee Jong-suk) also starts to have visions of the future, including his new neighbor falling to her death. As it turns out, all three of the main characters in the series (Jung Hae-in also stars) have premonitions because of an incident all three were involved in years earlier. The supernatural storyline combined with a growing romance makes the series incredibly compelling.

The series was nominated for 11 SBS Drama Awards, winning five of them. While You Were Sleeping also won Top Excellence Award for Korean Drama at the Seoul International Drama Awards.

38 The King’s Affection (2021)

A Young Woman Disguises Herself As Her Twin Brother

...the first K-drama to win an International Emmy Award...

Inspired by the manhwa Yeonmo, The King’s Affection aired on television in South Korea and was distributed internationally by Netflix at the same time. Many K-dramas have had similar distribution models in recent years.

The series is set during South Korea’s Joseon dynasty when twins are considered bad luck. When twins are born to the royal family, an order comes down to kill the female child, but their mother has her sent out of the palace to keep her alive. Years later when the prince dies, the lost daughter is discovered by their mother as a maid in the palace and takes her place among the royals - disguised as her brother.

The King’s Affection was nominated for a slew of awards across South Korea, winning six at the KBS Drama Awards. Han Hee-jung also won Best Writer for the series at the Seoul International Drama Awards. It’s also the first K-drama to win an International Emmy Award (for Best Telenovela).

37 Goblin (2016-2017)

A Cursed Man Becomes An Immortal Goblin

Also called Guardian: The Lonely And Great God, the series falls under the category of supernatural K-dramas. It follows a man who is branded a traitor and killed during the Goryeo period. Instead of simply dying, however, he is cursed with immortality. Instead of becoming bitter about his fate, as he becomes a Goblin, he begins to use his abilities to help the people he crosses paths with. That’s not the show’s whole story though.

Here, the Goblin ends up crossing paths with a young woman who can see ghosts and a Grim Reaper. Their lives all intertwine as the show slowly reveals that their meeting is more destiny than chance. The supernatural elements blend well with romance, a story of friendship, and history.

The series was hugely popular when it originally aired in South Korea, becoming one of the most-watched television shows at the time. It also earned a huge number of nominations from award shows in South Korea and across Asia. Goblin won four Korean Cable TV Awards, two Baeksang Arts Awards, and five Korea Drama Awards.

36 Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016)

A Modern Woman Ends Up In Korea’s Past

Inspired by a Chinese novel, Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo is one of many K-dramas that gives the audience a peek into Korean history. A woman attempts to save a drowning child, but when she comes to the water’s surface for air, she’s no longer in the modern day, but instead in the Goryeo era. That’s a huge way to kick off the time-traveling element of a K-drama. While time travel is a trope used across several genres, this time, it’s being used for a tragic love story.

The story involves the modern woman getting caught up in the politics of the time. She finds herself surrounded by the princes of the era, developing feelings for one and ending up in a relationship with another.

When the series initially premiered, ratings weren’t huge, and critical reviews were mixed, which made some believe that the series wouldn’t be a success. As the broadcast rights were sold outside of South Korea, however, the popularity of the series grew in leaps and bounds. The series ended up winning seven SBS Drama Awards and was nominated by several other organizations for awards.

35 Healer (2014-2015)

A Young Reporter Ends Up In Danger Following A Story

Today, Park Min-young is one of the best-known K-drama actresses. She’s become known for romances, but many of her K-dramas feature romantic storylines without being straight-up romances. Healer is one of those as it’s also an action-thriller.

Here, the actress plays a young reporter who finds herself in a strange new position. Healer (Ji Chang-wook) who is actually an illegal courier, has been assigned the job of protecting her. That’s unusual for her because she works for a tabloid news site that isn’t known for having a stellar reputation. As she begins investigating an incident from the 1990s that might connect with modern-day murders, she grows into a more respected reporter.

The series was nominated for five KNS Drama Awards, winning three of them. Actors in the series were also nominated for two APAN Star Awards. Ji Chang-wook and Park Min-young won Best Couple while the show also won Best Korean Drama (Melodrama) at the DramaFever Awards.

34 One Spring Night (2019)

A Single Dad Finds Love

Plenty of K-Dramas feature storylines involving single moms, or more specifically, widowed moms. There is a stigma attached to being a single mom in South Korea that the country has been struggling to get past. One Spring Night, instead, focuses on a single dad and works to destigmatize some of the assumptions about single parents.

The show does a great job of deconstructing aspects of Korean culture that might feel outdated to a modern audience while giving a compelling love story.

Ji-ho (Jung Hae-in) isn’t just a single dad. He’s also a pharmacist with ive parents and often catches the attention of women until they realize he already has a child. When he and Jung-in (Han Ji-min) cross paths, there’s chemistry between them that only grows. Jung-in has struggled with her independence and the way others see her. Her father has often viewed her as someone he needs to marry off, and Ji-ho treats her like her own person, which she finds refreshing.

33 It’s Okay, That’s Love (2014)

A Love Story Brings Mental Health Awareness

It’s Okay, That’s Love is the rare K-Drama that manages to combine a love story with mental health awareness. The show is known for its steamy romance between its main characters, but it also provides a window into the life of someone who has obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Jae-Yol is a famous writer who is still trying to cope with traumas from his childhood. With OCD and secrets that he’s been keeping, many of the decisions he makes as an adult are informed by things that happened to him as a child. Psychiatrist Hae-soo falls for him, but the two find that their troubles might be more serious than they initially believed. Their romance also connects to the past of other characters, creating for tightly woven narrative that provides fresh takes on old K-drama tropes.

32 Happiness (2021)

A Fake Relationship Becomes Real As Zombies Emerge

In Happiness, Sae-bom (Han Hyo-joo) is a police officer who can’t afford her own home, despite working of an elite law enforcement unit. She and her childhood friend Yi-hyun (Park Hyung-sik) decide to pool their resources and engage in a contract marriage. They can marry, without anyone knowing there isn’t any romance between them (so they say) and share the cost of a new apartment. Their new arrangement becomes dangerous, however, when an infection causes residents of their new building to drink the blood of other humans.

Sae-bom and Yi-hyun are determined to protect one another, but the residents in their building prove to be formidable threats to their safety. The more they have to work for survival, the more their feelings grow for one another. A zombie outbreak combined with a marriage of convenience might not sound like a fusion that would work, but Happiness is great at balancing the two ideas to create a unique K-Drama.

31 Go Back Couple (2017)

A Married Couple Goes Back In Time

So many K-Dramas that feature romance focus on two people first meeting and falling in love. They don’t typically take a couple having problems in their relationship and work backward. That is exactly what Go Back Couple does though, making for an unusual way to showcase relationship conflict and growth.

Jin-joo (Jang Na-ra) and Ban-do (Son Ho-joon) are married, exhausted, and struggling under their financial burdens. When Jin-joo decides she wants a divorce, her husband doesn’t disagree with her. Neither of them really want to divorce one another, but they’re so frustrated by their circumstances, that they leap to that idea, and then, their egos prevent them from telling one another it’s not what they want.

The day after they decide to divorce, they wake up 20 years earlier in their respective bedrooms as college students, allowing them to see just how their lives have changed, but also, whether their memories have been accurate. The show doesn’t just follow a love story backward but also examines the idea that when someone looks back fondly on their past, maybe they’re looking through rose-colored glasses.