Held at the Guro Arts Valley Theater, the annual ceremony focuses on the artistic merit of music rather than the amount sales it has accumulated. Winners at the awards show are decided through evaluation by industry experts rather than fan votes.
Special mention goes out to boy group BTS who were awarded the Musician of the Year award for the second year in a row. No stranger to breaking records, this is the first time in the history of the Korean Music Awards that an artist has been given the award twice in a row. Their hit single ‘Fake Love‘ was also named Song of the Year and Best Pop Song. Prior to the Korean Music Awards, the boy group attended the EDaily Culture Awards where they won the award for Best Concert.
Check out the full list of winners from the Korean Music Awards below!
ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Jang Pil Soon – ‘soony eight‘
SONG OF THE YEAR: BTS – ‘Fake Love’
MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR: BTS
BEST ROCK ALBUM: Life and Time – ‘Age’
BEST ROCK SONG: Life and Time – ‘Jamsugyo’
BEST MODERN ROCK ALBUM: Say Sue Me – ‘Where We Were Together’
BEST MODERN ROCK SONG: Say Sue Me – ‘Old Town’
BEST METAL AND HARDCORE ALBUM: DARK MIRROR OV TRAGEDY – ‘THE LORD OV SHADOWS‘
BEST POP ALBUM: Jang Pil Soon – ‘soony eight’
BEST POP SONG: BTS – ‘Fake Love‘
BEST DANCE AND ELECTRONIC ALBUM: Mid-Air Thief – ‘Crumbling’
BEST DANCE AND ELECTRONIC SONG: YESEO – ‘Honey, Don’t Kill My Vibe’
Best Rap and Hip Hop Album: Bassagong – ‘TANG-A’
Best Rap and Hip Hop Song: XXX – ‘Ganju Gok‘
Best R&B and Soul Album: Jclef – ‘flaw, flaw’
Best R&B and Soul Song: SUMIN – ‘Your Home’ (Feat. Xin Seha)
Best Folk Album: Kim Sawol – ‘Romance’
Best Folk Song: Kim Sawol – ‘Someone’
Best Jazz Album: Sunji Lee – ‘SONG OF APRIL‘
Best Crossover Album: near east quartet – ‘near east quartet‘
Best Jazz and Crossover Performance: Youngjoo Song – ‘Late Fall’
Lifetime Achievement Award: Yang Hee Eun
Rookie of the Year: AIRY
Congratulations to all the winners!
