The Melon Music Awards () is a major music awards show that is held annually by Kakao Entertainment (a Kakao company) through its online music store Melon. The event was initially a fan-voted award conducted entirely online from 2005 through 2008, and has been officially held offline in Seoul since 2009.
The award show uses digital data from the Melon music platform, online voting and judges' evaluationâÂÂto base its awards on artists who have performed exceptional during the year.
History
The awards show underwent a logo rebranding starting with the 2019 edition. The 2020 Melon Music Awards was held for 4 days from December 2 to 5, dubbed as "MMA Week," and was broadcast online due to government restrictions imposed by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Host venues
Judging criteria
Grand prizes
The four grand prizes (known as daesangs):
Main prizes
Top 10 Artist Award
Millions Top 10 Album Award
New Artist of the Year Award
Genre Awards
Best Rap/Hip Hop
Best Ballad
Best R&B
Best Rock
Best Trot
Best Pop
Best Dance
Best Folk/Blues
Best Indie
Best OST
Best Performance
Popularity awards
Netizen's Choice Award
Hot Trend Award
Special awards
Music Video Award
Songwriter Award
Best Performance Director
Best Music Style
Best Solo
Best Group
Best Collaboration
Global Artist Award
Global Rising Artist
Kakao Hot Star Award
Stage of the Year
1theK Performance Award
1theK Original Contents
1theK Global Icon
Other awards
2009
2010
- Best Dressed Singer: Girls' Generation
- Best MBC Radio Singer: Jung Yeop â "Without You"
2016
2020
- Best Drum: Shin Seok Cheol
- Best Bass: Choi Hoon
- Best Synthesizer: Hong So Jin
- Best Guitar: Juk Jae
- Best Chorus: Kim Hyun Ah
2021
- Project Music: MSG Wannabe M.O.M
- Best Session Instrumental Award: Kim Dong-min (Guitarist), Go Tae-yeong (Bassist), Gureum (Keyboardist)
- Legendary Performance: BTS â "IDOL"
2022
2023
- Kakao Favorite Star: BTS
- J-Pop Favorite Artist: imase
2024
2025
Discontinued awards
Best Electronic
MBC Music Star Award
Performing Arts Award
Most wins
Most grand prizes awarded
This list includes Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year Award.
Most awarded overall
Broadcasting
South Korea
- The 1st Melon Music Awards ceremony was broadcast through CU Media's y-star, Dramax and Comedy TV channels. Internet partners include Melon, Nate (then a sister brand), GOMTV and Afreeca TV (2009-2010).
- In 2010, LOEN Entertainment partnered with MBC Plus Media, and the latter transmitted the awards night through MBC every1, MBC Dramanet (from 2010 to 2011 and 2013), MBC Game (now defunct) and MBC Life (now defunct). When MBC Music was launched in 2012, it shared the honor of being the flagship station of MMA with MBC every1. MBC QueeN joined in 2013.
- Daum was the local internet partner in 2013. One year later, it merged with LOEN's incumbent parent company Kakao.
- In 2018, the awards show was broadcast on JTBC2, JTBC4, 1theK, and KakaoTV as part of their partnership with JTBC Plus Media.
Worldwide
- Since 2011, Alphabet Inc.'s YouTube (specifically the 1theK (formerly LOEN Music) channel) is the internet broadcast partner of Melon Music Awards. Microsoft's Zune was the first internet broadcast partner (2009).
China
Japan
Thailand
- Joox, another Tencent-owned music service, together with its sister property Sanook.com, brought Melon Music Awards to its users in Thailand in 2016 and 2017.
Taiwan
References
External links