Melon Music Awards
Current: 2023 Melon Music Awards
Awarded forExceptional digital performance
CountrySouth Korea
Presented byKakao Entertainment
First awarded
  • 2005 (online)
  • December 16, 2009; 14 years ago (2009-12-16) (live)
Websitewww.melon.com/mma/index.htm
Television/radio coverage
Network

The Melon Music Awards (Korean: 멜론 뮤직어워드) 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.[1]

The award show uses digital data from the Melon music platform—along with online voting and judges evaluation—to base its awards to artists who have had exceptional performance during the year.[2]

History

The awards show underwent a logo rebranding starting with the 2019 edition. 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 because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.[3]

Host venues

Year Date Venue City Ref.
2009 December 16, 2009 Olympic Hall Seoul [4]
2010 December 15, 2010 Kyung Hee University Hall of Peace [5]
2011 November 24, 2011 Olympic Gymnastics Arena [6]
2012 December 14, 2012 [7]
2013 November 14, 2013 [8]
2014 November 13, 2014 [9]
2015 November 7, 2015 [10]
2016 November 19, 2016 Gocheok Sky Dome [11]
2017 December 2, 2017 [12]
2018 December 1, 2018 [13]
2019 November 30, 2019 [14]
2020 December 2–5, 2020 Online event — [15]
2021 December 4, 2021 [16]
2022 November 26, 2022 Gocheok Sky Dome Seoul [17]
2023 December 2, 2023 Inspire Arena Incheon [18]

Judging criteria

Division Online Voting Digital Sales Judge Score
Grand prizes[a] 20% 60% 20%
Main prizes
Best New Artist
Genre Awards[b] 30% 40% 30%
Popularity Awards[c] 60% 40% —
Special Awards[d] — — 100%
  • ^[a] Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year
  • ^[b] Rap/Hip Hop, Ballad, R&B, Rock, OST, Trot, Pop, Dance, Folk/Blues, Indie
  • ^[c] Netizen's Choice Award, Hot Trend Award
  • ^[d] Record of The Year, Music Video Award, Song Writer Award, MBC Music Star Award, Performing Arts Award, Global Star Award, QQ Asia Artist Award, Hall of Fame Award, Kakao Hot Star Award

Grand prizes

The four grand prizes (known as daesangs):

Record of the Year
Year Winner
2018 Wanna One
2019 BTS
2021 Aespa
2022 BTS
2023 NCT Dream

Main prizes

Top 10 Artist Award

Year Winners[19][20]
2009 2PM Girls' Generation Kara K.Will G-Dragon 8eight Super Junior 2NE1 Brown Eyed Girls Davichi
2010 2PM Girls' Generation 2AM IU DJ DOC CNBLUE Lee Seung-gi 2NE1 T-ara 4Men
2011 f(x) Secret Beast IU Big Bang Sistar Super Junior 2NE1 Leessang Lena Park
2012 Psy Busker Busker Beast IU Big Bang Sistar Infinite 2NE1 T-ara Huh Gak
2013 Shinee Busker Busker Beast IU G-Dragon Sistar Exo Ailee Dynamic Duo Davichi
2014 g.o.d Winner Beast IU Taeyang Sistar Exo 2NE1 Girl's Day AKMU
2015 Shinee Girls' Generation Hyukoh Apink Big Bang Sistar Exo San E Zion.T Toy
2016 Bewhy Taeyeon BTS GFriend Mamamoo Zico Exo Twice Red Velvet AKMU
2017 Heize Winner BTS IU Big Bang Wanna One Exo Twice Red Velvet Bolbbalgan4
2018 iKon BtoB BTS Apink Mamamoo Wanna One Exo Twice Blackpink Bolbbalgan4
2019 Heize Taeyeon BTS Chungha Mamamoo MC the Max Exo Jannabi Jang Beom-june Bolbbalgan4
2020 Kim Ho-joong Baek Ye-rin BTS IU Oh My Girl Zico Baekhyun Lim Young-woong Blackpink Iz*One
2021 Heize Lee Mu-jin BTS IU Lil Boi NCT Dream Aespa Lim Young-woong Ash Island AKMU
2022 Be'O NewJeans BTS IU MeloMance NCT Dream (G)I-dle Lim Young-woong Ive Seventeen
2023 Aespa NewJeans BTS Le Sserafim Jungkook NCT Dream (G)I-dle Lim Young-woong Ive Seventeen

Millions Top 10 Artist Award

Year Winners
2023 (G)I-dle – I Feel' Aespa – My World BSS – Second Wind Ive – I've Ive Jungkook – "Seven" (feat. Latto) Le Sserafim – Unforgiven Lim Young-woong – "Do or Die" NCT Dream – ISTJ NewJeans – Get Up Seventeen – FML

New Artist of the Year Award

Main article: Melon Music Award for Best New Artist

Genre Awards

Best Rap/Hip Hop

Year Winner Song
2010 Supreme Team "Dang Dang Dang"
2011 GD & TOP "Oh Yeah" (feat. Park Bom)
2012 Dynamic Duo "Without You"
2013 Baechigi "Shower of Tears" (feat. Ailee)
2014 San E & Raina "A Midsummer Night's Sweetness"
2015 Mad Clown "Fire" (feat. Jinsil)
2016 Zico[21] "Eureka" (feat. Zion.T)
2017 Dynamic Duo & Chen "Nosedive"
2018 BTS "Fake Love"
2019 Epik High "Lovedrunk" (feat. Crush)
2020 Yumdda, Paloalto, The Quiett, Deepflow, Simon Dominic "I'mma Do" (feat. Woo Won-jae, Keem Hyo-eun, Nucksal, Huckleberry P)

Best Ballad

Year Winner Song
2010 Gummy "Because You're A Man"
2011 Kim Bum-soo "Please"
2012 K.Will "Please Don't"
2013 Huh Gak "Monodrama" (with Yoo Seung-woo)
K.Will "Love Blossom"
2014 M.C the Max "Wind That Blows"
2015 Baek Ah Yeon "Shouldn't Have" (feat. Young K)
2016 Jung Eun-ji "Hopefully Sky"
Im Chang-jung "The Love I Committed"
2017 Yoon Jong-shin "Like It"
2018 Roy Kim "Only Then"
2019 Taeyeon "Four Seasons"
2020 Davichi "Dear"

Best R&B

Year Winner Song
2014 Fly to the Sky "You You You"
2015 Naul "Living in the Same Time"
2016 Baekhyun & Suzy "Dream"
2017 Suran "Wine"
2018 IU "Bbibbi"
2019 Heize "We Don't Talk Together"
2020 Baek Ye-rin "Square (2017)"

Best Rock

Year Winner Song
2010 Hot Potato "Confession"
2011 CNBLUE "Intuition"
2012 Nell "The Day Before"
2013 Cho Yong-pil "Bounce"
2014 CNBLUE "Can't Stop"
2015 Kim Sunggyu "The Answer"
2016 Ha Hyun-woo "Don't Cry"
2017 Kim Hee-chul & Min Kyung-hoon "Sweet Dream"
2018 Kim Hee-chul & Min Kyung-hoon "Falling Blossoms"
2019 N.Flying "Rooftop"
2020 IU "Eight" (feat. Suga)

Best Trot

Year Winner Song
2010 Jang Yoon-jeong "Come On"
2015 Hong Jin Young "Love Wifi"
2016 Hong Jin Young "Thumbs Up"
2017 Hong Jin Young & Kim Young Chul "Ring Ring (Composer ver.)"
2018 Hong Jin Young "Goodbye"
2019 Hong Jin Young "Love Tonight"
2020 Lim Young-woong "Trust in Me"

Best Pop

Year Winner Song
2012 Maroon 5 "Payphone" (feat. Wiz Khalifa)
2013 Bruno Mars "Young Girls"
2015 Mark Ronson "Uptown Funk" (feat. Bruno Mars)
2016 Justin Bieber "Love Yourself"
2017 Ed Sheeran "Shape of You"
2018 Camila Cabello "Havana" (feat. Young Thug)
2019 Billie Eilish "Bad Guy"
2020 Sam Smith "To Die For"
2022 Charlie Puth "That's Hilarious"
2023 Charlie Puth

Best Dance

Year Winner[21] Song
2014 Male Block B "Her"
Female Apink "Mr. Chu"
2015 Male BTS "I Need U"
Female Red Velvet "Ice Cream Cake"
2016 Male Exo "Monster"
Female GFriend "Rough"
2017 Male Exo "Ko Ko Bop"
Female Twice "Knock Knock"
2018 Male Wanna One "Boomerang"
Female Blackpink "Ddu-Du Ddu-Du"
2019 Male BTS "Boy with Luv" (feat. Halsey)
Female Chungha "Gotta Go"
2020 Male BTS "Dynamite"
Female Blackpink "How You Like That"

Best Folk/Blues

Year Winner Song
2014 Akdong Musician "200%"
2015 10cm "Sseudam Sseudam"
2016 10cm[21] "What The Spring??"
2017 Jung Eun-ji "The Spring"
2018 Hong Jin-young "Good Bye"

Best Indie

Year Winner Song
2014 Standing Egg "Lean on Me" (feat. Park Se-young)
2015 Standing Egg "The Sunlight Hurts" (feat. Wheein & Obroject Yundak)
2016 Bolbbalgan4 "Galaxy"
2017 MeloMance "Gift"
2018 MeloMance "Fairy Tale"
2019 MeloMance "You&I"
2020 Bolbbalgan4 "Leo" (feat. Baekhyun)

Best OST

Year Winner Song Drama/Show TV
2009 Future Liger "Let's Dance" Infinite Challenge
2010 Lee Seung-gi "Losing My Mind" My Girlfriend Is a Nine-Tailed Fox
2011 Sunny Hill "Pit-a-Pat" The Greatest Love
2012 Seo In-guk & Jung Eun-ji "All For You" Reply 1997
2013 Yoon Mi-rae "Touch Love" Master's Sun
2014 Lyn "My Destiny" My Love from the Star
2015 Loco & Yuju of GFriend "Spring is Gone By Chance" A Girl Who Sees Smells
2016 Yoon Mi-rae "Always" Descendants of the Sun
2017 Ailee "I Will Go to You Like the First Snow" Goblin
2018 Paul Kim "Every Day, Every Moment" Should We Kiss First?
2019 Gummy "Remember Me" Hotel del Luna
2020 Jo Jung-suk "Aloha" Hospital Playlist
2021 Lee Mu-jin "Rain and You" Hospital Playlist 2
2022 MeloMance "Love, Maybe" Business Proposal
2023 Lim Jae-hyun "Heaven" It Was Spring

Best Performance

Year Winner
2020 Male Monsta X
2021 Male The Boyz
2022 Male Tomorrow X Together
Female Le Sserafim
2023 Male Seventeen
Female Aespa

Popularity awards

Netizen's Choice Award

Year Winner Song
2010 Super Junior "Bonamana"
2011 Super Junior "Mr. Simple"
2012 Beast "Midnight"
2013 Exo "Growl"
2014 Beast "Good Luck"
2015 Big Bang "Bang Bang Bang"
2016 Exo "Monster"
2017 Exo "Ko Ko Bop"
2018 BTS "Idol"
2019 BTS "Boy with Luv"
2020 BTS "Dynamite"
2021 BTS "Butter"
2022 Lim Young-woong "If We Ever Meet Again"

Hot Trend Award

Year Winner Work Topic
2010 Girls' Generation "Hoot" Music
2011 Infinite Challenge "West Coast Expressway Music Festival" Variety Series
2012 Trouble Maker "Trouble Maker" Collaboration
2013 Crayon Pop "Bar Bar Bar" Music
Rose Motel "Longtime Lovers" Music
2014 Soyou & Junggigo "Some" Collaboration
2015 Infinite Challenge "Yeongdong Expressway Music Festival" Variety Series
2016 Zico "I Am You, You Are Me" Radio Star
2017 Suran & Suga "Wine" Singer and Producer
2018 Loco & Hwasa "Don't" Collaboration
2019 AB6IX — Produce 101 Alumni
2020 Mr. Trot 6 — Reality Show
2021 Brave Girls "Rollin'" Music
2022 Le Sserafim "Fearless" Music
2023 Jungkook "Seven" Soloist & Unit

Special awards

Music Video Award

Year Winner Music Video
2010 Hwang Soo-ah Ga-in's "Irreversible"
2011 Cha Eun-taek T-ara's "Roly-Poly"
2012 Cho Soo-hyun Psy's "Gangnam Style"
2013 Lee Gi-baek (Tiger Cave Studio) Beast's "Shadow"
2014 Won Tae-yeon (LOEN Entertainment) Melody Day's "Another Parting"
2015 Naive Creative Production Park Jin-young's "Who's Your Mama?" (feat. Jessi)
2016 Shin Hee-won Red Velvet's "Russian Roulette"
2017 Choi Yong-su (Lumpens) BTS' "DNA"
2018 Ko Yoo-jeong (Lumpens) GFriend's "Time for the Moon Night"
2019 VM Project Architecture Kang Daniel's "What Are You Up To"
2021 Yong Seok Choi, Guzza (Lumpens) TXT's "0X1=Lovesong (I Know I Love You)" (feat. Seori)
2022 Samson (Highqualityfish) (G)I-dle's "Tomboy"

Song Writer Award

Year Winner Song
2009 Hitman Bang 8eight's "Without A Heart" & "Goodbye My Love"
2010 Lee Min-soo & Kim Eana IU and Im Seulong's "Nagging"
2011 Jeon Hye-sung Davichi's "Don't Say Goodbye", Baek Ji-young's "That Woman"
2012 Duble Sidekick Sistar's "Loving U", Baek Ji-young's "Voice", "Good Boy"
2013 Shinsadong Tiger Ailee's "U&I", Apink's "NoNoNo", Trouble Maker's "Now"
2014 Kim Do-hoon Soyou & Junggigo's "Some", Mad Clown's "Without You", Ailee's "Don't Touch Me"
2015 Teddy Park BigBang's "Loser", "Bae Bae", "Bang Bang Bang", "We Like 2 Party", "Sober", "Zutter" (GD & TOP), and "Let's Not Fall In Love"
2016 Hitman Bang BTS' "Fire", "Save Me", and "Blood Sweat & Tears"
2017 IU IU's "Through the Night", "Can't Love You Anymore", "Palette", and "Ending Scene"
2018 B.I iKon's "Love Scenario", "Killing Me", and "Goodbye Road"
2019 Pdogg BTS' "Boy with Luv","Dionysus", "Mikrokosmos", "Make It Right", and TXT's "Angel or Devil"
2020 Young Tak Lee Daewon's "Champion", Jang Minho's "Read and Ignored", Jung Dongwon and Nam Seungmin's "Hit It Off", Young & Wild's "Thirsty", Ko Jaegeun's "Love Cowboy", Sungwonee's "Because of Money", and Han Leejae's "Knock Knock Knock"
2021 IU IU's "Strawberry Moon", "Lilac", "Celebrity", "Coin", "My Sea" and "Hi Spring Bye"
2022 Jeon So-yeon (G)I-dle's "Tomboy", "My Bag" and "Nxde"
2023 Ryan S. Jhun Ive's "I Am", "Kitsch", "I Want", "Off the Record", "Baddie" & "Either Way", Monsta X's "Beautiful Liar", Hwang Min-hyun's "Hidden Side", Queendom Puzzle's "SNAP", "Bad Blood" & "I Do", Fromis_9's "#meneow", Ren's "Ready to Move", Oh My Girl's "Summer Comes", Infinite's "New Emotion", Cignature's "Smooth Sailing", Weeekly's "Good Day (Special Daileee)", D.O's "I Do", Just B's "Medusa", Viviz's "Untie" & Enhypen's "Orange Flower (You Complete Me)"

Best Performance Director

Year Winner
2020 Son Seung-duk
2021 Son Seung-duk

Best Music Style

Year Winner
2021 Homies
2022 Big Naughty
2023 Silica Gel

Best Solo

Year Winner
2021 Male Lim Young-woong
Female IU
2022 Male Lim Young-woong
Female IU
2023 Male Jungkook
Female Lee Young-ji

Best Group

Year Winner
2021 Male BTS
Female Aespa
2022 Male BTS
Female Ive
2023 Male NCT Dream
Female Newjeans

Best Collaboration

Year Winner Song
2021 Coldplay & BTS "My Universe"
2022 10cm & Big Naughty "Beyond Love"
2023 Jung Kook & Latto "Seven"

Global Rising Artist

Year Winner Song
2011 Girls' Generation "The Boys"
2012 Psy "Gangnam Style"
2013 Psy "Gentleman"
2017 BTS "DNA"
2018 BTS "Fake Love"
2021 Enhypen "Drunk Dazed"
2022 STAYC "Beautiful Monster"
2023 Boynextdoor "But Sometimes"[22]

Global Rising Artist

Kakao Hot Star Award

Year Winner
2016 Exo[21]
2017 Wanna One
2018 BTS
2019 BTS

Stage of the Year

Year Winner
2017 Park Hyo Shin
2018 Lee Sun-hee
2019 Seventeen
2022 IU
2023 Shinee – Shinee World VI: Perfect Illumination

1theK Performance Award

Year Winner
2015 Monsta X
2017 GFriend
2018 Momoland
2019 The Boyz

1theK Original Contents

Year Winner
2020 The Boyz
2021 STAYC

1theK Global Icon

Year Winner
2022 Enhypen
2023 Kiss of Life

Other awards

2009

2010

2016

2020

2021

2022

2023

Discontinued awards

See Awards

Best Electronic

Year Winner Song
2014 2NE1 "Come Back Home"

MBC Music Star Award

Year Winner[21]
2010 Miss A
2011 Baek Ji-young
2012 Shindong & Kim Shin-young
2013 f(x)
2014 Ladies' Code
2015 EXID
2016 Seventeen
2017 Hyuna

Performing Arts Award

Year Winner Song
2010 Psy "Right Now"
2011 Lee Seung-hwan "Super Hero"
2013 Shin Seung-hun —

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.

Awards Artist
13 BTS
5 IU
4 Exo
Lim Young-woong
3 Girls' Generation
2 Big Bang
2NE1
NewJeans
Ive
Busker Busker
Beast

Most awarded overall

Awards Artist
43 BTS
24 IU
17 Exo
12 Girls' Generation
11 Lim Young-woong
9 2NE1
Beast
8 Aespa
7 Big Bang
NewJeans
Ive

Broadcasting

South Korea

Worldwide

China

Japan

Thailand

Taiwan

References

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  22. ^ But Sometimes
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External links

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