Melon Music Awards 2026 Announces Nominees For Category Awards + TOP10 Winners

The next round of voting is underway for the Melon Music Awards 2026!

On October 30, the Melon Music Awards 2026 (hereafter MMA 2026) announced the nominees for 12 categories that will have winners determined in part by fan votes.

In order to be eligible, the music must have been released between November 20, 2025 and October 14, 2026.

The TOP10, Global TOP10, Album of the Year, Artist of the Year, Song of the Year, New Artist of the Year, Best Solo, Best Group, Best OST, and Best Pop Artist are all determined by 60% digital score, 20% panel review, and 20% votes. TrackZero Choice is determined by 20% digital score, 60% panel review, and 20% votes. Other awards such as Record of the Year, Global-K of the Year, and more will be 100% determined by panel review.

Voting for the TOP10 took place from October 15 through October 29, and the final winners became the nominees for Artist of the Year.

Here are the nominees for the category awards:

Artist of the Year (TOP10 winners)

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

Album of the Year

• 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”

Song of the Year

• 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”

Global TOP10

• aespa
• BABYMONSTER
• BIGBANG
• BLACKPINK
• BOYNEXTDOOR
• BTS
• CORTIS
• ENHYPEN
• EXO
• G-DRAGON
• Hearts2Hearts
• i-dle
• ILLIT
• IU
• IVE
• Jennie
• LE SSERAFIM
• NCT DREAM
• NCT WISH
• NewJeans
• NMIXX
• RESCENE
• RIIZE
• Rosé
• SEVENTEEN
• Stray Kids
• TWICE
• TWS
• TXT
• Yena

New Artist of the Year

• ALPHA DRIVE ONE
• HADES
• LNGSHOT
• SYSTEM SEOUL
• TUIDE

Best Solo – Female

• BOL4
• IU
• Jennie
• Taeyeon
• Yena

Best Solo – Male

• BIG Naughty
• Lee Changsub
• Lim Young Woong
• SoonSoonHee (Jihwan)
• Young K

Best Group – Female

• aespa
• Hearts2Hearts
• ILLIT
• IVE
• KiiiKiii

Best Group – Male

• BOYNEXTDOOR
• BTS
• CORTIS
• NCT WISH
• PLAVE

Best OST

• Kim Min Seok (MeloMance) – “Love Language” (“Can This Love Be Translated?” OST)
• PLAVE – “Love Is Enough (Original)” (“Sold Out On You” OST)
• Sung Si Kyung – “Anytime anyhow” (“Surely Tomorrow” OST)
• TRIANGLE – “Love is” (“Wild Sing” OST)
• WOODZ – “EVERGLOW” (“Perfect Crown” OST)

Best Pop Artist

• Ariana Grande
• Bruno Mars
• Charlie Puth
• KATSEYE
• Tame Impala

TrackZero Choice

• DeVita – “Tricyle”
• Electron Sheep – “Kids Return”
• Goat’s Horn, Dog’s Heart – “Goat’s Horn, Dog’s Heart”
• Haepa – “Model Citizen”
• Kangziwon – “lemon”
• NokeNok – “Summer Break”
• Silica Gel – “BIG VOID”
• SUMIN – “+82”
• wave to earth – “courage”
• youra – “BATHTUB”

The Melon Music Awards 2026 will take place on November 14 and 15 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. Check out the lineup here!