Every year, the South Korean entertainment industry treats fans with shows that feature gripping storylines and a stellar cast. So far, some of the top record-breaking K-dramas 2024 included Queen of Tears, Marry My Husband, and Lovely Runner. These series bagged the highest number of viewership, especially for their finale episodes.
The latest highly-rated dramas were Kim Soo-Hyun and Kim Ji-Won’s Queen of Tears and Byeon Woo-Seok and Kim Hye-Yoon’s Lovely Runner. The two shows revolved around the themes of romance and comedy. However, they were not similar. While Soo-Hyun’s drama also featured revenge and family concepts, Woo-Seok’s series centered around time-slip romance.
Here are a few top record-breaking K-dramas 2024:
Queen of Tears
Queen of Tears premiered on March 9, 2024, and concluded on April 28, 2024. It aired on tvN and is available to stream on Netflix. The storyline revolves around a married couple — Baek Hyun-Woo (Kim Soo-Hyun) and Hong Hae-In (Kim Ji-Won). They married for love but distanced themselves from each other over the years. Hae-In is a chaebol heiress of the Queens Group, while Hyun-Woo is the legal director of the same company.
Although they work together and live under one roof, the couple seems to have no love left for each other. One day, Hyun-Woo decides to divorce his wife but a piece of devastating news makes him cancel his plan. Meanwhile, someone from Hae-In’s past turns the lives of the couple upside down. While surviving the crisis, they find their long-lost love again.
The K-drama became an instant hit because of the melodramatic plot and the chemistry between the lead pair. Throughout the run, the show achieved high ratings. However, the finale broke the record of Crash Landing on You (2020). The former K-drama scored 21.683 percent while QOT bagged 24.850 percent. In fact, it is the record rating in 2024 so far.
Lovely Runner
Lovely Runner is also one of the top record-breaking K-dramas in 2024. This tvN series featured Byeon Woo-Seok as Ryu Sun-Jae and Kim Hye-Yoon as Im Sol. Sun-Jae is the main vocalist of the fictional K-pop band, Eclipse. He once saved Im Sol from losing hope in her life. Since then, she has been his ardent fan.
One day, she learns that Sun-Jae has passed away. While grieving, she magically transports back to 15 years when the characters were in high school. Im Sol decides that she will use the opportunity to save Sun-Jae’s life in the future. But she faces challenges and wonders if she can ever change the impending tragedy. Moreover, Im Sol’s fate brings her closer to Sun-Jae in every timeline.
The time-slip love story became an instant hit. It premiered on April 8, 2024, and ended on May 28, 2024. The finale surpassed its own record and achieved a nationwide viewership of 5.8 percent.
Marry My Husband
2024 started with the K-drama, Marry My Husband, which turned out to be a success. Based on a popular webtoon, the revenge drama revolves around Kang Ji-Won (Park Min-Young). She is unhappily married to Park Min-Hwan (Lee Yi-Kyung) who is a walking red flag. He cheats on his wife with her best friend Jung Soo-Min (Song Ha-Yoon). Ji-Won, a cancer patient, finds out the truth and gets into a scuffle with her husband. During the fight, he pushes her onto a glass table and she dies.
When Ji-Won wakes up, she realizes she has been transported back to ten years. Now, she has the perfect chance to seek revenge on her husband and best friend. Her boss, Yoo Ji-Hyuk (Na In-Woo), helps her and eventually falls in love with her.
The finale achieved a record-breaking rating of 12 percent. It makes Marry My Husband the second-highest in the average viewership rating in 2024.
The Atypical Family
The Atypical Family is a romance fantasy K-drama, starring Jang Ki-Yong and Chun Woo-Hee in lead roles. On Netflix, the synopsis reads, “Once blessed with unique superpowers, a family loses their abilities due to modern-day problems — until a mysterious woman changes everything.”
With a unique storyline, the series garnered appreciation from K-drama fans. The finale, which aired on June 9, 2024, ended on its highest ratings since the premiere. It scored 4.9 percent.
Meanwhile, the second half of the year will witness the releases of many highly-anticipated K-dramas. It will be interesting to know if the upcoming series breaks records of any of the aforementioned shows. Stay tuned for more updates.
