Dates, Venue and Getting to Gocheok

The third Korea Grand Music Awards run over two nights: Saturday, November 7 and Sunday, November 8, 2026. The official ticket listing on NOL gives the same hours for both shows, 5:00 to 9:30 p.m., four and a half hours with no intermission. The first night is billed as Artist Day and the second as Music Day, the same two-part format the awards used last year.

Why does such a young ceremony already feel like a fixture on the K-pop calendar? KGMA was founded in 2024 by Ilgan Sports, the Korean entertainment and sports daily that marks its 57th anniversary this year, and it built a reputation early for stage-heavy shows. The first two editions were held at INSPIRE Arena on Yeongjongdo, the island that is also home to Incheon International Airport. For the third, the organizers moved the show into Seoul itself, saying the change to Gocheok Sky Dome was about making the awards easier to reach for fans in Korea and abroad.

Gocheok Sky Dome opened in 2015 as Korea's first domed stadium and is the home ground of the Kiwoom Heroes baseball team. With a roof overhead, it has become one of the city's go-to rooms for stadium-sized music nights, and it is part of the busy late-autumn run of stages covered in our guide to year-end K-pop concerts and award shows in Seoul.

The easiest way in is Seoul Subway Line 1 to Guil Station. According to the venue operator, Seoul Facilities Corporation, exit 2 is about 150 meters from the dome, roughly a three-minute walk. One thing catches visitors out: Line 1 splits after Guro Station, and only trains on the Incheon-bound branch stop at Guil, so check the destination on the train before you board. The operator asks visitors to use public transport where possible. If you are building a longer trip around the show, our K-pop travel guide to Seoul covers where else in the city to experience idol culture.

The Lineup and the Hosts, Night by Night

KGMA has confirmed 40 acts, 20 for each night, announced in four rounds plus a special lineup. The split by day is the first thing to check, because a ticket covers one night only.

• Artist Day, Saturday, November 7: TREASURE, CRAVITY, P1Harmony, tripleS, FIFTY FIFTY, ALLDAY PROJECT, RESCENE, MEOVV, xikers, CLOSE YOUR EYES, AND2BLE, IDID, DAY6's Young K, DAYOUNG, the bands LUCY and Novelbright from Japan, and trot singer Jang Min-ho, among others. Hosts: actress Nam Ji-hyun and RESCENE's Woni.
• Music Day, Sunday, November 8: ATEEZ, RIIZE, ITZY, ITZY's Yuna as a soloist, TWS, WayV, NEXZ, KISS OF LIFE, Hearts2Hearts, KiiiKiii, KickFlip, AHOF, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, SHINee's Minho, MONSTA X's Shownu X Hyungwon, Choi Ye-na, Billlie, the band TOUCHED and trot singer Park Ji-hyun, among others. Hosts: IVE's Liz and actor Kim Jae-won.

The mix is deliberate. The organizers describe KGMA as a celebration of the year in K-pop, bands and trot together, which is why bands and two trot singers share a bill with idol groups. Some faces are regulars: ATEEZ return for a third straight year, as do P1Harmony and FIFTY FIFTY, and ALLDAY PROJECT come back after their first KGMA stage last year.

Thirty-nine presenters will hand out the awards, among them actors Lee Jun-ho, Go Youn-jung, Jung Kyung-ho and Jeon Yeo-been and figure skater Cha Jun-hwan; the organizers have not said which presenter appears on which night. New this year is the KGMA Star Road, which replaces a conventional red carpet. Arriving artists walk it for an official photo time close to the crowd, and it is designed as an in-person extra for ticket holders rather than a broadcast segment. The artists named for it include ATEEZ, RIIZE, ITZY, TREASURE, Hearts2Hearts and ALLDAY PROJECT. Award-show lineups can still change close to the date, so it is worth checking KGMA's official channels in show week.

How to Get KGMA Tickets

The official domestic sale runs on one platform only: NOL, the ticketing service K-pop fans used to know as Interpark Ticket. Sales opened on October 2 at 6:00 p.m. Korea time, with a limit of two tickets per person for each show. The organizers chose a single seller to keep the booking servers stable under heavy demand.

Prices on the NOL listing are set by floor level. VIP seats, which include table seating and reserved seats on the first floor, are 121,000 won. R seats on the second and third floors are 99,000 won, and S seats on the fourth floor are 77,000 won. Wheelchair seats are 55,000 won and include one companion. Booking fees may be added at checkout. The show is rated for ages 9 and up, online booking closes at 3:00 p.m. on each show day, and tickets are not mailed out but picked up at the venue.

For fans abroad, the picture is less simple, because the October 2 sale is the domestic one on NOL's Korean site. The official lineup poster also credits separate partners for overseas inbound tickets, so seats may appear in travel packages sold outside Korea. Before paying any reseller or agency, check that KGMA or NOL names it; secondhand listings carry the usual risk of invalid tickets. Fans who make videos have one more route. KGMA's global dance challenge invites creators worldwide to post a routine to the official KGMA track with the hashtag #2026KGMA, and 200 selected creators receive tickets among other perks.

On the day itself, give yourself time. Collect your tickets well before the 5:00 p.m. start, and arrive early enough to catch the Star Road arrivals and the K-Beauty Festa, an experience zone with missions and sampling events set up near the dome on both days. With four and a half hours and no break, eat before you go in. November evenings in Seoul turn cold fast while you queue outside, and our guide to Korea in November has the layering basics.

Fan Voting and Where to Watch Live

All official fan voting happens in the Coogoong app, available on Google Play and the Apple App Store. Some categories are decided entirely by fan votes: Best Listener's Pick, Trend of the Year in four divisions (male solo, female solo, group and rookie), and a new Popularity Award open only to users living in Korea. Their round ran from September 14 to 26. A second new prize, the Hallyu Popularity Award, is the one for international fans, because only users living outside Korea can vote for it.

A final round for Best Music & Artist, Best Adult Contemporary, Best OST, Best Music Video and the Hallyu Popularity Award opened on September 28, and its results are combined with the first round. The organizers have not published a single closing time for every category, so check the Coogoong app for each deadline. Votes are only one input: chart and album data from Hanteo Chart, Genie Music, FLO and Bugs also feed the results.

If you cannot be in Seoul, both nights stream live. TikTok Live carries the show worldwide except in Japan and China, Hulu Japan streams it live in Japan, and ENA broadcasts it live in Korea. The 5:00 p.m. Korea start is 8:00 a.m. in London and 3:00 a.m. in New York. Last year's edition streamed through the same partners, and six acts lifted the grand trophy: THE BOYZ, BOYNEXTDOOR, Stray Kids, IVE, ATEEZ and ALLDAY PROJECT.