Fans can now vote for their favorite artists at the 2025 Melon Music Awards. The official list of nominees is out, setting the stage for one of K-pop’s biggest award shows. Major stars like SEVENTEEN, BLACKPINK’s Jennie and Rosé, and BTS’s Jin are in the running for top prizes. The show will happen on December 20, 2025, at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul.
Voting for most awards opened on December 5 and will close at 11:59 p.m. KST on December 19. This gives fans two weeks to support their picks. The winners are decided using a mix of data from the Melon music platform, scores from a panel of judges, and votes from the public.
How To Cast Your Vote For The MMA 2025
To vote, you need to visit the official Melon website or use the Melon app. The process is straightforward but requires a Melon account.
Paid subscribers to the Melon service get three votes per day to use across the different award categories. Users with free accounts get one vote per day. After logging in, you can go to the MMA 2025 voting page, select the category you want to vote in, and choose your favorite artist or song.
Alongside the main awards, there is a special new prize called the Berriz Global Fans’ Choice Award. This award is designed to recognize artists with strong international fan support. Only fans living outside of South Korea can vote for this award on Kakao’s global K-culture hub, Berriz. The voting for the Berriz Global Fans’ Choice Award closes earlier, on December 14 at 11:59 p.m. KST.
Full List Of Nominees For The Major Awards
The nominees cover music released between October 31, 2024, and November 19, 2025. The most watched categories are the three grand prizes, known as Daesangs: Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, and Song of the Year.
For Artist of the Year, the ten nominees were pre-selected based on their digital performance and an earlier round of voting. They are: aespa, BOYNEXTDOOR, G-Dragon, IVE, Jennie, Lim Young Woong, NCT WISH, PLAVE, RIIZE, and Rosé.
The Album of the Year category features a mix of soloists and groups. The nominated albums are:
- BABYMONSTER – “DRIP”
- G-Dragon – “Übermensch”
- IU – “Kkot Galpi 3”
- IVE – “IVE EMPATHY”
- Jennie – “Ruby”
- Lim Young Woong – “IM HERO 2”
- PLAVE – “Caligo Pt.1”
- RIIZE – “ODYSSEY”
- Rosé – “rosie”
- SEVENTEEN – “HAPPY BURSTDAY”
In the Song of the Year category, the nominated tracks include Jennie’s “like JENNIE”, Rosé’s “toxic till the end”, IVE’s “REBEL HEART”, and G-Dragon’s “HOME SWEET HOME” featuring Taeyang and Daesung.
Other Key Categories And Notable Nominees
Beyond the Daesangs, several other categories highlight the year’s best music. The Millions Top 10 award is unique because it is based 80% on streaming data, specifically for albums that got over one million streams on Melon within a day of release. This list is long and includes big names like BTS’s Jin for his song “Happy,” EXO’s Baekhyun, NCT’s Mark, and groups like SEVENTEEN and TXT.
The Best Group categories are highly competitive. For Best Male Group, the nominees are BOYNEXTDOOR, PLAVE, RIIZE, SEVENTEEN, and TXT. For Best Female Group, the race is between aespa, BABYMONSTER, Hearts2Hearts, IVE, and LE SSERAFIM.
The Best Solo Artist categories are also full of top stars. The female category is a battle between IU, Jennie, Jisoo, Rosé, and Taeyeon. For Best Male Solo Artist, the nominees are 10CM, G-Dragon, Lim Young Woong, Maktub, and ZO ZAZZ.
Fan Reactions And Notable Absences
Following the nominee announcement, fans took to social media to share their thoughts. Many expressed strong support for their favorites, with comments like “Please let Rosé sweep every category she’s nominated for” and calls to “Vote KATSEYE best pop artist”.
However, some fans were surprised that certain popular groups were not included in the nominations. Comments on social media asked about the absence of artists like Stray Kids, TWICE, ITZY, and Enhypen. One fan commented, “No Stray Kids… looks like I might just skip this year of MMA,” while another questioned why successful groups that “sell millions of albums” were not nominated. The eligibility is strictly based on digital performance on the Melon platform during the set timeframe, which explains why some physically best-selling artists may not appear.
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Award Show Details And Global Fan Participation
The 2025 Melon Music Awards ceremony will be held on Saturday, December 20, at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The event’s slogan for this year is “Play The Moment”. A lineup of performing artists has been partially announced, with stars like G-Dragon and Hearts2Hearts confirmed to take the stage.
For international fans, the new Berriz Global Fans’ Choice Award is a major point of engagement. The nominees for this global-only award include aespa, Stray Kids, DAY6, NCT DREAM, and ZEROBASEONE, among others. This award is decided completely by votes from fans outside Korea, paired with an expert review.
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