M Countdown () is a South Korean music program broadcast by Mnet from the CJ E&M Center Studio in Sangam-dong, Mapo District, Seoul. It features appearances by popular music artists who also perform live on stage. First hosted by Leeteuk, Shindong, and Kangin of Super Junior, the show has had various celebrity emcees through the years. As of March 2026, M Countdown is hosted by Park Gun-wook of Zerobaseone, So Jung-hwan of Treasure, Lee Kye-hoon of KickFlip.
M Countdown airs live on domestic television at 6PM KST every Thursday. Live streaming is available internationally via the M Countdown On Air page on Mwave's website.
In the Philippines, online multi-view live broadcast of the show is available via gigafest.smart. It began airing on the free-to-air TV5 network from January 31, 2021, however due to low ratings on the network, it was concluded on March 6, 2022. Full episodes with English subtitles are shown every Sunday night, along with another K-Chart show Music Bank on GMA Hallypop. Meanwhile, some episodes of M Countdown like Hot Debut and Comeback Stages are already available on YouTube Philippines since January 2022.
Current segments on the show include Cha-Cha-Cha, MCD Dance Challenge, MCD Vocal Challenge, Storage M, and M Studio. Discontinued segments formerly aired include: B'SHOP (songwriter Bang Si-hyuk introduced a selection of hit songs), MCD Drama (show-hosts acted out various scenarios), MCD News (reported music industry news), and MCD Ranking (ranked celebrities based on certain topics).
In February 2010, Mnet announced a new group of eight emcees, comprising select members from 2PM, 2AM, CNBLUE, and MBLAQ. Nicknamed "MCD GUYZ", they hosted the show in subgroups of three or four at a time. This marked the first time M Countdown deviated from its tradition of having 1âÂÂ2 fixed presenters.
Following Key's departure as host on April 13, 2017, M Countdown announced the implementation of a "special MC system" of guest presenters since a permanent replacement had not yet been decided. The first "new" hosts selected were girl group singers Hani from EXID, and Kyulkyung and Nayoung from PristinâÂÂthey appeared on the April 20 broadcast.
Between April 2018 and March 2019, the show was hosted by a "Global MC Crew" of idols who spoke various foreign languages.
Chart rankings are calculated by combining the following for a total of 12,000 points:
Data is collected from Monday to Sunday.
Songs can win a maximum of three times before being removed from the chart.
Girls' Generation was the only act to achieve the perfect score of 10,000 points under the fourth and fifth scoring systems. Since then, only Exo, BTS, Shinee, Twice, and NU'EST have achieved the perfect score of 11,000 points.
While previous revisions of this article included winners from 2004 to 2007, that information was not supported by any secondary sources since its initial addition in 2011. A lack of media coverage of the show on Naver for those particular years makes sourcing the information difficult. As such, those sections have been removed from the page and only winners from 2008 to present are cited.
The term triple crown refers to when a song achieves three wins on the show. After that, it becomes ineligible for first place and is removed from the chart. The following is a list of all songs that have achieved a triple crown on M Countdown from 2008 to present.
Most No. 1 winners
Most Triple Crowns
Top 10 Highest Scores (1stâÂÂ6th System) July 29, 2004 â March 3, 2011
Top 10 Highest Scores (7thâÂÂ8th System) March 10, 2011 â August 23, 2012
Scoring 7th System: Digital Single Sales (40%), Album Sales (10%), Asia/Global Fan Vote (15%), Preferences of Music Experts (10%), Real-Time Charts (15%), SMS Vote (10%)
Scoring 8th System: Digital Single Sales (45%), Album Sales (10%), Global Fan Vote (15%), Mnet Broadcasting (5%), Preferences of Music Experts (10%), Real-Time Charts (5%), SMS Vote (10%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (9thâÂÂ10th System) August 30, 2012 â February 20, 2014
Scoring System: Digital Single Sales (50%), Album Sales (10%), Age Preference (20%), Global Fan Vote (5%), Live Show Preferences (10%), SMS Vote (5%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (11thâÂÂ12th System) February 27, 2014 â June 4, 2015
Scoring System: Digital Single Sales (50%), Album Sales (10%), Social Media Points (10%: YouTube official music video views + SNS buzz), Preference Points (10%: global fan votes + age range preference), Mnet Broadcast Points (10%), SMS Votes (10%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (13thâÂÂ15th System) June 11, 2015 â April 12, 2018
Scoring System: Digital Music Sales (50%), Album Sales (15%), Social Media Score (15%: YouTube official music video views + SNS buzz), Popularity Score (10%: global fan votes + age range preference), Mnet Broadcast Score (10%) + SMS Voting Score (10%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (16thâÂÂ18th System) April 26, 2018 â May 21, 2020
Scoring System: Digital Music Sales (45%), Album Sales (15%), Social Media Score (20%: YouTube official music video views + SNS buzz), Global Fan Votes (10%), Mnet Broadcast Score (10%), SMS Live Vote (10%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (19thâÂÂ20th System) May 28, 2020 â April 7, 2022
Scoring System: Digital Sales (45%: Melon, Genie, FLO), Album Sales (15%), Social Media (15%: YouTube MV views), Global Fan Vote (15%), Mnet Broadcast (10%: Mnet TV, MCD Stage, M2 Contents), Live Vote (10%: first-place nominees only)
Top 10 Highest Scores (21stâÂÂ22nd System) April 14, 2022 â January 4, 2024
Scoring System: Digital Sales (50%), Album Sales (15%), Social Media (10%), Global Fan Vote (15%), Mnet Broadcast (10%), Live Vote (10%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (Current System) January 11, 2024âÂÂpresent
Scoring System: Digital Sales (60%), Album Sales (15%), Global Social Media Buzz (15%), Global Fan Vote (10%), Mnet Broadcast (10%), Live Vote (10%)
Top 10 Highest Scores (All Time)