Melon Music Awards
The Melon Music Awards is a major music awards show that is held annually by Kakao Entertainment 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' evaluation—to 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
| Year | Date | Venue | City | Ref. |
| 2009 | December 16, 2009 | Olympic Hall | Seoul | |
| 2010 | December 15, 2010 | Kyung Hee University Hall of Peace | Seoul | |
| 2011 | November 24, 2011 | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Seoul | |
| 2012 | December 14, 2012 | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Seoul | |
| 2013 | November 14, 2013 | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Seoul | |
| 2014 | November 13, 2014 | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Seoul | |
| 2015 | November 7, 2015 | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Seoul | |
| 2016 | November 19, 2016 | Gocheok Sky Dome | Seoul | |
| 2017 | December 2, 2017 | Gocheok Sky Dome | Seoul | |
| 2018 | December 1, 2018 | Gocheok Sky Dome | Seoul | |
| 2019 | November 30, 2019 | Gocheok Sky Dome | Seoul | |
| 2020 | December 2–5, 2020 | Virtual event | rowspan="2" | |
| 2021 | December 4, 2021 | Virtual event | - | |
| 2022 | November 26, 2022 | Gocheok Sky Dome | Seoul | |
| 2023 | December 2, 2023 | Inspire Arena | Incheon | |
| 2024 | November 30, 2024 | Inspire Arena | Incheon | |
| 2025 | December 20, 2025 | Gocheok Sky Dome | Seoul |
Grand prizes
The four grand prizes :| Year | Winner |
| 2018 | Wanna One |
| 2019 | BTS |
| 2021 | Aespa |
| 2022 | BTS |
| 2023 | NCT Dream |
| 2024 | (G)I-dle |
| 2025 | Jennie |
Genre Awards
Best Folk/Blues
Special awards
Global Artist Award
Other awards
2009
- Star: TVXQ
- Mania: TVXQ - "Mirotic"
- Current Stream: Kim Tae-woo – "Love Rain"
- Smart Radio: Girls' Generation
- Odyssey: Girls' Generation – "Gee"
- Mobile Music: Girls' Generation
- Sudden Rise: Leessang
- Y-STAR Live: Lee Seung-chul
2010
- Best Dressed Singer: Girls' Generation
- Best MBC Radio Singer: Jung Yeop – "Without You"
2016
- Hall of Fame Award: Sechs Kies
- Tencent-QQ Music Asia Star Award: iKon
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, Go Tae-yeong, Gureum
- Legendary Performance: BTS – "IDOL"
2022
- Project Music Award: WSG Wannabe
- KakaoBank Everyone's Star: BTS
2023
2024
- Kakao Bank Everyone's Star: Riize
- J-Pop Favorite Artist: Yoasobi
- Track Zero Choice: Hyukoh & Sunset Rollercoaster - "Young Man"
- Best Producer: Seo Hyun-joo
2025
- Kakao Bank Everyone's Star: NCT Wish
- J-Pop Favorite Artist: Kenshi Yonezu
- Japan Favorite Artist by U-Next: BoyNextDoor
- Track Zero Choice: Hanroro - "Goodbye, My Summer"
- Best Producer: Zico
- Berriz Global Fan's Choice: Hearts2Hearts
Discontinued awards
Best Electronic| Year | Winner | Song |
| 2014 | 2NE1 | "Come Back Home" |
MBC Music Star Award
| Year | Winner |
| 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 |
| 4 | Aespa |
| 4 | G-Dragon |
| 3 | Girls' Generation |
| 2 | Big Bang |
| 2 | 2NE1 |
| 2 | NewJeans |
| 2 | Ive |
| 2 | Busker Busker |
| 2 | Beast |
| 2 | Lim Young-woong |
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, GOMTV and Afreeca TV.
- In 2010, LOEN Entertainment partnered with MBC Plus Media, and the latter transmitted the awards night through MBC every1, MBC Dramanet, MBC Game and MBC Life. 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 is the internet broadcast partner of Melon Music Awards. Microsoft's Zune was the first internet broadcast partner.
China
Japan
- The Sony Music Japan-owned Music On! TV acquired the local broadcast rights in 2015, making Melon Music Awards the second Korean music awarding event that it broadcasts.
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
- Streaming rights is handled by Taiwan Mobile's MyMusic service.