Quick Look: A fan-voted ranking has put Lovely Runner at the top of the K-drama chemistry charts, beating global hits like Crash Landing on You and My Demon. The list is built from viewer votes on MyDramaList, one of the largest K-drama community platforms, where fans rate and discuss shows year-round.
How This Ranking Was Built
MyDramaList users voted directly on a dedicated “Chemistry: K-Drama Couple” poll, giving point values to the pairings that made them feel the most butterflies. The top ten come straight from that community vote count. A eleventh spot was added from a separate Joy News 24 industry-and-fan survey that named IU and Park Bo Gum of When Life Gives You Tangerines the Best K-drama Couple of 2025.
The ranking below reflects fan sentiment, not critic scores or TV ratings.
1. Lovely Runner — 22 Votes
Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon ran away with the top spot in the MyDramaList chemistry poll, collecting 22 votes from users.
The time-slip romance follows a fan who travels back in time to save her favorite idol. Their connection became the show’s breakout element. Lovely Runner holds a 9.1/10 on MyDramaList from over 32,000 users, with the lead pair frequently singled out as the reason viewers kept watching.
One fan on MyDramaList wrote that the drama’s success was “a breakthrough for Byeon Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon. Love their chemistry”.
2. Crash Landing on You — 10 Votes
Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin landed in second place with 10 votes, more than a decade after the drama first aired.
The story of a South Korean heiress who paraglides into North Korea and falls for an army officer became a global phenomenon. The pair’s chemistry was so visible that the two actors married in real life after filming wrapped.
Crash Landing on You carries a 9.0/10 on MyDramaList from over 287,000 viewers, and the chemistry between the leads is regularly cited as the engine behind its worldwide success.
3. My Demon — 6 Votes
Song Kang and Kim Yoo-jung took third place with 6 votes.
The fantasy rom-com pairs a demon who loses his powers with a cold chaebol heiress. Their contract marriage setup gave viewers a steady stream of tension and visual-heavy romantic scenes.
My Demon holds an 8.3/10 on MyDramaList from over 107,000 ratings. A reviewer on the site noted that the leads “seem like a dream visual couple” and that their chemistry is felt immediately on screen.
4. Alchemy of Souls — 5 Votes
Lee Jae-wook and Jung So-min tied for fourth with 5 votes.
The fantasy epic set in a fictional country mixes soul-shifting magic with a slow-burn romance between a powerful mage and his secret assassin apprentice. The first season of Alchemy of Souls scored 9.1/10 on MyDramaList from over 30,000 users, and the second season added another 9.0/10 from more than 20,000 ratings.
Fan discussion on MyDramaList has repeatedly pointed to the romantic tension as a major reason the drama stayed watchable across its two-part run.
5. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim — 5 Votes
Park Seo-joon and Park Min-young also collected 5 votes, tying for fourth place.
The office rom-com about a narcissistic vice chairman and his indispensable secretary is still one of the most rewatched K-dramas on the planet. What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim holds an 8.5/10 on MyDramaList from over 160,000 users.
A MyDramaList reviewer wrote that “the chemistry between him and Park Min-young was phenomenal, their chemistry was perfect”. The series is regularly named one of the best romantic comedies in K-drama history.
6. Vincenzo — 4 Votes
Song Joong-ki and Jeon Yeo-been earned 4 votes for their unlikely pairing in the dark crime comedy Vincenzo.
The series follows an Italian mafia consigliere who returns to South Korea and teams up with a sharp-tongued lawyer. Their partnership starts as a business arrangement and slowly turns into one of the most quoted slow-burn romances in recent K-drama memory.
Vincenzo holds an 8.9/10 on MyDramaList from over 134,000 users. A fan review on the site called their chemistry “off the charts” and said the two worked “perfectly as partners in crime and as a romantic couple”.
7. Queen of Tears — 4 Votes
Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won also picked up 4 votes for their portrayal of a married couple on the edge of divorce in Queen of Tears.
The drama follows a chaebol heiress and her lawyer husband as they navigate a crisis that forces them to confront their feelings again. The emotional push-and-pull between the two leads became the show’s defining feature.
Queen of Tears was one of the most-watched Korean dramas of 2024, and the chemistry between Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Ji-won was widely credited for its success. Fan discussions on MyDramaList and Reddit frequently mention the pair’s ability to switch between cold distance and genuine warmth.
8. Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha — 3 Votes
Shin Min-a and Kim Seon-ho earned 3 votes for their seaside romance in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha.
The drama pairs a pragmatic dentist who moves to a small coastal town with a charming jack-of-all-trades. Their relationship builds through everyday moments rather than grand gestures, and that quiet rhythm is exactly what fans responded to.
Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha holds an 8.7/10 on MyDramaList from over 100,000 users, and the lead pair’s easy, natural dynamic is one of the most frequently praised elements in user reviews.
9. Our Beloved Summer — 3 Votes
Choi Woo-shik and Kim Da-mi also collected 3 votes for their reunion romance in Our Beloved Summer.
The story follows two former high school classmates who filmed a documentary together, broke up, and are brought back together years later. The drama’s strength lies in the messy, realistic push-and-pull between two people who never fully moved on.
Our Beloved Summer holds an 8.5/10 on MyDramaList from over 80,000 users. Fans on the platform have repeatedly highlighted the pair’s “sweet but bittersweet” chemistry as the reason the show stays with them.
10. Healer — 2 Votes
Ji Chang-wook and Park Min-young round out the MyDramaList top ten with 2 votes for Healer.
The action-romance follows a night courier with martial arts skills and a tabloid reporter chasing a decades-old mystery. The pair’s chemistry builds through shared danger and secret identities, giving the romance a heightened intensity.
Healer holds an 8.6/10 on MyDramaList from over 50,000 users, and the drama is frequently cited in “best chemistry” discussions on Reddit and MyDramaList even years after its release.
11. When Life Gives You Tangerines — 44 Votes (Joy News 24 Poll)
IU and Park Bo Gum topped a separate Joy News 24 survey of 110 entertainment industry experts, taking 44 votes and the title of Best K-drama Couple of 2025.
The slice-of-life romance set on Jeju Island follows two people across decades of love, loss, and resilience. When Life Gives You Tangerines was also named the Best K-drama of 2025 in the same survey.
Their partnership marked the first on-screen collaboration between IU and Park Bo Gum, and the drama’s global performance on Netflix introduced the pair to a new international audience. The chemistry between the two leads carried the emotional weight of the series, which spans multiple timelines and life stages.
What the Votes Show
The MyDramaList poll results show that fan-voted chemistry does not always follow global streaming numbers. Lovely Runner, a 2024 time-slip romance, beat Crash Landing on You, a drama that became a worldwide cultural event. My Demon and Alchemy of Souls, both fantasy-driven series, landed in the top four, while classic rom-coms like What’s Wrong with Secretary Kim and Vincenzo held their ground in the middle of the list.
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MyDramaList ratings also show that the dramas on this list maintain strong scores years after release, with most sitting above 8.3/10 from tens of thousands of user ratings. The vote counts may look small in the poll itself, but the broader MyDramaList user base consistently rates these pairings as some of the most convincing in K-drama history.
Looking for more K-drama rankings and fan-driven lists? Keep checking VvipTimes for the latest updates on the shows viewers cannot stop talking about.
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