The Four Daesang: Record, Artist, Album and Song of the Year

The Daesang, or grand prize, is the headline of any Korean music award show, and the Melon Music Awards hand out four of them. This year the show runs over two nights for the first time in its 18 editions, Saturday, November 14 and Sunday, November 15 at Gocheok Sky Dome. The winners are revealed across the two ceremonies.

Seven acts are nominated in all three of the voted grand prize categories, Artist, Album and Best Song of the Year: BTS, AKMU, I.O.I, IVE, ILLIT, KiiiKiii and CORTIS. That is the shortlist to watch. Record of the Year has no public nominee list.

• Record of the Year
  No public shortlist
• Artist of the Year
  Nominees: AKMU, BTS, CORTIS, Hearts2Hearts, I.O.I, ILLIT, IVE, KiiiKiii, NCT WISH, PLAVE
• KakaoBank Album of the Year
  Nominees: aespa (LEMONADE), AKMU (FLOWERING), ALLDAY PROJECT (ALLDAY PROJECT), BTS (ARIRANG), CORTIS (GREENGREEN), I.O.I (I.O.I : LOOP), ILLIT (MAMIHLAPINATAPAI), IVE (REVIVE+), KiiiKiii (Delulu Pack), YENA (LOVE CATCHER)
• Best Song of the Year
  Nominees include: aespa ("LEMONADE"), AKMU ("Paradise of Rumors"), BTS ("SWIM"), CORTIS ("REDRED"), Hearts2Hearts ("RUDE!"), I.O.I ("Suddenly"), ILLIT ("It's Me"), KiiiKiii ("404 (New Era)"), YENA ("Catch Catch"), and IVE

Where an award honors an album or a song, the title follows the artist's name. Each row lists the nominees until the winner is announced; then the winner takes its place. Last year one act took three of the four: G-DRAGON won Artist, Album and Best Song of the Year, and JENNIE won Record of the Year.

The TOP10 and the Category Awards

The TOP10 is the Melon Music Awards' main prize, and this year's ten were confirmed before the show, on October 30: AKMU, BTS, CORTIS, Hearts2Hearts, I.O.I, ILLIT, IVE, KiiiKiii, NCT WISH and PLAVE. The same ten are the nominees for Artist of the Year.

• TOP10
  AKMU, BTS, CORTIS, Hearts2Hearts, I.O.I, ILLIT, IVE, KiiiKiii, NCT WISH, PLAVE

The category awards below are voted on in Melon until November 13. Each row lists the nominees until the winner is announced.

• Rookie of the Year
  Nominees: ALPHA DRIVE ONE, HADES, LNGSHOT, SYSTEM SEOUL, TUIDE
• Global TOP10
  30 nominees, including BTS, BLACKPINK, Stray Kids, SEVENTEEN, TWICE, aespa, IVE and CORTIS; ten are chosen
• Best Group (female)
  Nominees: aespa, Hearts2Hearts, ILLIT, IVE, KiiiKiii
• Best Group (male)
  Nominees: BOYNEXTDOOR, BTS, CORTIS, NCT WISH, PLAVE
• Best Solo (female)
  Nominees: BOL4, IU, JENNIE, Taeyeon, YENA
• Best Solo (male)
  Nominees: BIG Naughty, Lee Changsub, Lim Young-woong, Sunsunhee (Jihwan), Young K
• Best OST
  Nominees: Kim Min-seok (MeloMance), PLAVE, Sung Si-kyung, Triangle, WOODZ
• Best Pop Artist
  Nominees: Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, KATSEYE, Tame Impala
• Track Zero Choice
  10 indie nominees, including Silica Gel, wave to earth and SUMIN

The Global TOP10 is new this year. It draws on the Global-K Chart, a combined Korea, China and Japan chart that Melon runs with Tencent Music and LINE MUSIC, so listening outside Korea feeds into a prize directly. Awards that are not voted on, such as performance and special prizes, are added here as they are presented. For the performer list for each night, see our Melon Music Awards lineup and streaming guide.

How the MMA Winners Are Decided

The Melon Music Awards lean on listening data more than most Korean award shows. For the TOP10 and the voted categories, streaming performance on Melon counts for 60 percent, a judging panel for 20 percent and fan votes for 20 percent. Track Zero Choice, which spotlights indie artists from Melon's Track Zero program, flips the weighting: judges count for 60 percent and streaming for 20.

That is why the shortlist above follows the year's charts closely. IVE took No. 1 on Melon's TOP100 and weekly chart with "BANG BANG." KiiiKiii reached the top of the TOP100 for the first time with "404 (New Era)," and CORTIS kept "REDRED" in the top three of Melon's monthly chart from May through September. I.O.I's reunion single "Suddenly" also reached No. 1 on the TOP100.

The TOP10 vote closed on October 29, and the category vote closes on November 13, the day before the first show. After that, the ceremony itself reveals everything else. The show is split into two nights this year, so the awards are spread across both; this page groups them by award rather than by night.

Last Year's Winners and Where to Watch

The 17th Melon Music Awards were held at Gocheok Sky Dome on December 20, 2025. G-DRAGON had the night of his career there, with three grand prizes and seven trophies in all. JENNIE won Record of the Year, the first of the four grand prizes announced that night. Hearts2Hearts and ALLDAY PROJECT shared Rookie of the Year, and both are back this year: Hearts2Hearts in the TOP10, ALLDAY PROJECT among the Album of the Year nominees.

To watch this year's show live, check the official partner for your region. In Korea it streams on Melon and on Wavve, which has the exclusive OTT rights. In Japan it streams on U-NEXT, and in Taiwan on TVBS42 and CATCHPLAY+. Elsewhere, Melon's YouTube channel and 1theK carry the stream, though some regions may be excluded. 6 p.m. KST is 09:00 UTC: 5 p.m. in Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong and Singapore, 9 a.m. in London and 4 a.m. in New York. If you are following the year-end season, our KGMA winners list covers the Korea Grand Music Awards held at the same dome a week earlier.