K-pop dominates Tencent's 2026 music awards as aespa takes home 6 trophies

aespa took six trophies at the 2026 TME Live International Music Awards on August 22 and 23, more than any other act at a ceremony that drew a significant portion of K-pop's active roster to Hong Kong's Kai Tak Stadium. The sweep is a measure of how thoroughly the group has built its presence in Chinese-speaking markets over the past year.

The awards are organized by TME Live, the live-events brand of Tencent Music Entertainment Group, China's largest music streaming conglomerate. The ceremony, which Tencent launched just last year, combines a conventional awards show with large-scale live performances in a venue that holds up to 50,000 people. This year's lineup extended beyond K-pop: American pop artist Charlie Puth and Hong Kong artists Chen Weiting and Zhang Tianfu also appeared.

What aespa won

aespa claimed Best Overseas Girl Group of the Year and Best Digital EP of the Year, and all four members' solo tracks were named among the Top 10 Overseas Hit Songs of the Year, accounting for the remaining four awards in their total of six. SM Entertainment, aespa's label, sent eight acts to the ceremony in all.

Other SM artists accounted for a wide spread of categories. Super Junior received the Most Influential Overseas Group award. Girls' Generation's Taeyeon won Most Influential Overseas Artist. NCT's Taeyong took the Starlight Artist award. WayV was named Asian Icon Group, RIIZE won Trending Overseas Group, NCT WISH received Breakthrough Overseas Group, and Hearts2Hearts picked up Rising Overseas Group.

The rest of the K-pop field

Stray Kids, signed to JYP Entertainment, won Overseas Group of the Year. TOMORROW X TOGETHER took Best Overseas Boy Group, and member Yeonjun separately received the Breakthrough Overseas Artist award for his solo work. IVE won the Overseas Popular Group award. Evan, formerly of ENHYPEN, was named Global K Artist.

The broader K-pop winner list also included Kiki, BABYMONSTER, AND:ABLE, and AlphaDriveON. PLAVE, the virtual idol group released by Vlast, received the Overseas Popular Stage award.

The industry logic behind the attendance

The density of Korean acts at the ceremony reflects a calculation that several agency representatives described openly. One executive at a major label said their company attended specifically to connect with Chinese-speaking fanbases, calling it an opportunity to build a foundation for market entry at a time when direct activity in mainland China remains difficult for most Korean entertainment companies. Relations between the Korean and Chinese entertainment industries have been constrained for years by regulatory friction and the residual effects of the THAAD dispute.

A second agency representative pointed to the venue itself as part of the draw. Kai Tak Stadium's capacity means the event functions more like a festival than a conventional awards show, and the executive said there is genuine demand from agencies to have their artists present even when a trophy is not guaranteed. The visibility among Chinese-speaking fans, they argued, justifies the travel regardless of outcome.

What the ceremony also illustrates is the structural weight Tencent carries as a gatekeeper in Chinese-language music consumption. For labels trying to maintain a foothold in that market without the ability to tour freely on the mainland, a Tencent-branded stage in Hong Kong functions as a practical alternative.