K-Pop Titans BTS & BIGBANG Dominate 2026 MAMA Awards Nominations!

The 2026 MAMA Awards nominations were officially announced on Monday, October 12, coinciding with the commencement of first-round voting for the 2027 Grammy Awards, which notably features a new dedicated Asian pop category for Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The MAMA Awards ceremony is scheduled to span two nights, November 20-21, and will be held at the Kyocera Dome Osaka in Japan, with a worldwide live stream available on CJ ENM’s Mnet Plus platform. Music released between October 1, 2025, and September 30, 2026, is eligible for this year's accolades.

Leading the nominations, global sensation BTS secured five nods for the 2026 MAMA Awards, including prestigious categories like Artist of the Year, Best Male Group, and Album of the Year for their work "ARIRANG." They also received nominations for Best Vocal Performance Group for “SWIM” and Best Music Video for “2.0.” Individually, group member J-Hope garnered two additional nominations for his collaboration on LE SSERAFIM’s “SPAGHETTI,” recognized in both Best Collaboration and Best Dance Performance Female Group categories.

Veteran K-pop group BIGBANG also demonstrated strong performance with four nominations, complemented by four more nods for solo projects by members Taeyang and G-Dragon. BIGBANG is nominated for Artist of the Year, Best Male Group, Best Music Video for “BiiiG,” and Best Dance Performance Male Group for “BiiiG.” Taeyang received three solo nominations: Artist of the Year, Best Male Artist, and Best Dance Performance Male Solo for his single “LIVE FAST DIE SLOW.” G-Dragon was recognized in the Best Collaboration category for his feature on aespa’s “WDA (Whole Different Animal).” G-Dragon previously won Artist of the Year at the 2025 ceremony.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT) earned three nominations for the group: Artist of the Year, Best Male Group, and Album of the Year for "7th year: a moment of stillness in the thorns." Furthermore, group member Yeonjun received three individual nominations, competing for Artist of the Year, Best Male Artist, and Best Dance Performance Male Solo for his track “Ice Cream.”

Several other prominent acts each received five nominations, highlighting a competitive field across various categories. These include MAMAMOO (with four additional nods for its youngest member, Hwasa), aespa, ATEEZ, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT, and CORTIS. The first round of fan voting is currently in progress, allowing fans to support their favorite artists.

Recalling last year’s triumphs, G-Dragon was crowned Artist of the Year, while ROSÉ & Bruno Mars’s “APT.” earned Song of the Year, Stray Kids’ KARMA took Album of the Year, and ENHYPEN was recognized as Fans’ Choice of the Year. The full list of nominees for the 2026 MAMA Awards, with the exception of Song of the Year which is yet to be announced, is detailed below:

Best Male Artist: Doh Kyung Soo (D.O. of EXO), Taeyang of BIGBANG, Taeyong of NCT, Yeonjun of TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Young K of DAY6

Best Female Artist: Hwasa of MAMAMOO, Irene of Red Velvet, Soyeon of i-dle, Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation, YENA

Best Male Group: ATEEZ, BIGBANG, BTS, CORTIS, ENHYPEN, NCT WISH, Stray Kids, TOMORROW X TOGETHER

Best Female Group: aespa, BABYMONSTER, BLACKPINK, Hearts2Hearts, ILLIT, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, NMIXX

Best New Artist: ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE, EVAN H//PE, Princess hrtz.wav, LNGSHOT, MODYSSEY, OURBIRTHDAY, TUIDE, UNCHILD

Best Vocal Performance Solo: Hwasa of MAMAMOO – “Good Goodbye”, IU – “Unknown Planet”, Jennie of BLACKPINK – “Less than a Lover”, Roy Kim – “No Words Can Say”, WOODZ – “CINEMA”

Best Vocal Performance Group: AKMU – “Paradise of Rumors”, BTS – “SWIM”, Davichi – “TIME CAPSULE”, DxS (SEVENTEEN) – “Blue”, MAMAMOO – “4 Flowers”

Best Rap & Hip Hop Performance: BIG Naughty – “Nostalgia”, HAON – “Yarrr”, NOWIMYOUNG – “KOLOK COLOK”, TREASURE – “IF I”, ZICO & Lilas of YOASOBI – “DUET”

Best Original Soundtrack: Kim Min Seok of MeloMance – “Love Language” (Can This Love Be Translated? OST), Migak Boys – “My Flavor” (The Legend of Kitchen Soldier OST), Sung Si Kyung – “Anytime anyhow” (Surely Tomorrow OST), Suzy – “A Day” (EXchange 4 OST), Young K of DAY6 – “Season of Us” (My Royal Nemesis OST)

Best Music Video: BIGBANG – “BiiiG”, BTS – “2.0”, Hwasa of MAMAMOO – “Good Goodbye”, i-dle – “Mono (Feat. skaiwater)”, MEOVV – “DDI RO RI”

Best Collaboration: aespa – “WDA (Whole Different Animal) [feat. G-Dragon of BIGBANG]”, Dayoung of WJSN & Jay Park – “FLIRTY”, LE SSERAFIM – “SPAGHETTI (feat. j-hope of BTS)”, LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT & KATSEYE – “ICONIC BY MISTAKE”, Parc Jae Jung & Sullyoon of NMIXX – “Always”

Best Band Performance: Silica Gel – “BIG VOID”, JANNABI – “Just Kids”, LUCY – “All Ages”, QWER – “CEREMONY”, Xdinary Heroes – “Voyager”

Best Choreography: ATEEZ – “BAD”, CORTIS – “REDRED”, ILLIT – “It’s Me”, IVE – “BANG BANG”, YENA – “Catch Catch”

Best Dance Performance Male Solo: ONEW of SHINee – “TOUGH LOVE”, Taemin of SHINee – “FLOAT”, Taeyang of BIGBANG – “LIVE FAST DIE SLOW”, Taeyong of NCT – “WYLD”, Yeonjun of TOMORROW X TOGETHER – “Ice Cream”

Best Dance Performance Female Solo: BIBI – “BUMPA”, Dayoung of WJSN – “What’s a girl to do”, Soyeon of i-dle – “I’m gonna TOESA”, YENA – “Catch Catch”, Yuna of ITZY – “Ice Cream”

Best Dance Performance Male Group: ATEEZ – “BAD”, BIGBANG – “BiiiG”, BOYNEXTDOOR – “Hollywood Action”, CORTIS – “REDRED”, RIIZE – “Do your dance”, Stray Kids – “This & That”, TWS – “OVERDRIVE”, ZEROBASEONE – “TOP 5”

Best Dance Performance Female Group: aespa – “LEMONADE”, Hearts2Hearts – “RUDE!”, I.O.I – “Suddenly”, ILLIT – “It’s Me”, IVE – “BANG BANG”, KiiiKiii – “404 (New Era)”, LE SSERAFIM – “SPAGHETTI (feat. j-hope of BTS)”, NMIXX – “Blue Valentine”

Artist of the Year: Aespa, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE, ATEEZ, BABYMONSTER, BIGBANG, BLACKPINK, BTS, CORTIS, Doh Kyung Soo (D.O. of EXO), ENHYPEN, EVAN H//PE, Princess, Hearts2Hearts, hrtz.wav, Hwasa of MAMAMOO, ILLIT, Irene of Red Velvet, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, LNGSHOT, MODYSSEY, NCT WISH, NMIXX, OURBIRTHDAY, Soyeon of i-dle, Stray Kids, Taeyang of BIGBANG, Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation, Taeyong of NCT, TUIDE, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, UNCHILD, YENA, Yeonjun of TOMORROW X TOGETHER, Young K of DAY6

Album of the Year (Only Albums that sold more than 1 Million copies are eligible): &TEAM – Mark on Me, aespa – LEMONADE, ALPHA DRIVE ONE – EUPHORIA, ATEEZ – GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5, BLACKPINK – DEADLINE, BOYNEXTDOOR – The Action, BTS – ARIRANG, CORTIS – GREENGREEN, ENHYPEN – THE SIN : VANISH, EXO – REVERXE, IVE – REVIVE+, NCT DREAM – Beat It Up, NCT WISH – Ode to Love, PLAVE – Caligo Pt.2, RIIZE – II, Stray Kids – THIS & THAT, TWS – NO TRAGEDY, TOMORROW X TOGETHER – 7TH YEAR: A Moment of Stillness in the Thorns

Fans’ Choice Male: &TEAM, 82MAJOR, 8TURN, AEN, AHOF, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE, ATEEZ, AxMxP, B1A4, BIGBANG, BOYNEXTDOOR, BTS, CLOSE YOUR EYES, CNBLUE, CORTIS, CRAVITY, DAY6, ENHYPEN, EVAN, EVNNE, EXO, FLARE U, hrtz.wav, HUI, IDID, JANNABI, Jay Park, KickFlip, LNGSHOT, NCT 127, NCT DREAM, NCT WISH, NEXZ, NouerA, Park Ji Hoon, PLAVE, RIIZE, SEVENTEEN, SHINee, Stray Kids, Super Junior, TREASURE, TWS, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, WOODZ, XLOV, XODIAC, ZEROBASEONE, ZICO

Fans’ Choice Female: aespa, AKMU, ALLDAY PROJECT, Apink, APOKI, ARTMS, AtHeart, Baby DONT Cry, BABYMONSTER, BIBI, Billlie, BLACKPINK, Chuu, CSR, DAVICHI, Dayoung of WJSN, dodree, EJel, FIFTY FIFTY, fromis_9, HANRORO, Hearts2Hearts, i-dle, I.O.I, ILLIT, ITZY, IVE, izna, Kep1er, KiiiKiii, KISS OF LIFE, LE SSERAFIM, Lee Young Ji, MAMAMOO, MEOVV, Mimi of Oh My Girl, NMIXX, Red Velvet, RESCENE, Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation, TUIDE, TWICE, UNIS, VVUP, X:IN, Yena, Yoon Mi Rae, Yoona of Girls’ Generation, Younha, Yuju