BTS, AKMU and IVE Land in All 3 Main MMA 2026 Categories

BTS, AKMU, I.O.I, IVE, ILLIT, KiiKii and CORTIS are the seven acts nominated in all three main categories at the Melon Music Awards 2026: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Song of the Year. Melon released the full nominee list on the 30th, with awards split across 12 categories.

The field is built heavily on chart results. BTS reached No. 1 on Melon's Top 100 within an hour of releasing "SWIM," the title track of their fifth full-length album Arirang from March, and every song on the album placed high on the chart. AKMU put both the title track of their fourth album and a B-side at the top of the Top 100.

I.O.I, back together after about nine years, took No. 1 on both the Top 100 and the Hot 100 with their mini album's title track. IVE topped the Top 100 and the weekly chart with the title track of their second full-length album. KiiKii held the daily No. 1 spot for 12 straight days with the title track of their second EP.

CORTIS even produced a piece of fan slang. A B-side from their second mini album set off what Korean fans call the "Young Creator Crew syndrome," and their title track "Red Red" stayed in Melon's monthly top three for five months running.

Outside the seven, aespa's "Lemonade" and Choi Ye-na's "Catch Catch" are nominated for Album and Song of the Year, while Hearts2Hearts are up for Artist of the Year and Song of the Year.

Rookies, groups and soloists

Five acts are in the running for New Artist: ALPHA DRIVE ONE, LONGSHOT, TUIT, SYSTEM SEOUL and HADES.

Best Female Group nominees are aespa, IVE, ILLIT, KiiKii and Hearts2Hearts. Best Male Group has BTS, CORTIS, PLAVE, BOYNEXTDOOR and NCT WISH.

In the solo categories, IU, BOL4, Taeyeon, Jennie and Choi Ye-na compete for Best Female Solo. Lee Chang-sub, Youngk, Lim Young-woong, Jihwan of "Sunsunhee" and Big Naughty are up for Best Male Solo.

The Best OST list includes Kim Min-seok, Sung Si-kyung, Triangle, PLAVE and WOODZ. Best Pop Artist nominees are Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, Charlie Puth, KATSEYE and Tame Impala.

How the winners are chosen

New this year is the Global Top 10. Thirty nominees were selected from cumulative scores on the Global K Chart, which draws on data from Melon, China's Tencent Music and Japan's LINE Music.

Final winners are decided by a weighted total: 60% charts, 20% judging and 20% voting. Melon and Berriz votes count one-to-one, and voting runs through the 13th of next month.

MMA 2026 is also the first awards show of its kind to run over two days, on the 14th and 15th of next month at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul's Guro District.

The other big awards show

Mnet's 2026 MAMA AWARDS also held a media day on the 29th, announcing a concept called "A Music Interstellar" that moves across K-pop's past, present and future. Chapter 1 is the artist-focused night, including the Fans' Choice Top 10, rookie, solo and group prizes. Chapter 2 is the performance night, with a newly added Best Song Top 10 and genre awards.

The collaboration stages are the headline. Panic, marking 31 years since debut, will perform with CORTIS' Martin, Seonghyeon, WOODZ, ZEROBASEONE's Kim Tae-rae, ALL DAY PROJECT's Woochan and Hearts2Hearts' Yuha. ENHYPEN will join the film Dune: Part Three for a cinematic stage, and the lineup also includes BIGBANG paired with the animation Dooly the Little Dinosaur, charcoal artist Lee Bae, and an AI collaboration with Google Gemini.

MAMA is adding a fan-led festival, MAMA Fan Festa, and 25 presenters have been named, including Kim Hye-soo, Lee Jun-ho and Jang Keun-suk. Asked about safety after last year's fire near Hong Kong's Kai Tak Stadium, Mnet's Park Chan-wook said the team prepares case by case, with earthquake manuals for Japan and an on-site response unit.