Melon Music Awards 2021 Announces Nominees + Voting Begins

Nov 09, 2021

Voting is underway for the Melon Music Awards (MMA) 2021!

Earlier this week, the Melon Music Awards officially announced the nominees for this year’s award ceremony, which will take place on December 4 at 6 p.m. KST. Only artists who released music between November 11, 2020 and November 7, 2021 were eligible for this year’s awards.

Starting on November 8 at 12 p.m. KST, Melon opened voting for the Top 10 awards, which will be awarded to 10 artists based 80 percent on their Melon download and streaming counts for the year and 20 percent based on votes. Votes for the Top 10 awards will also automatically count towards the Artist of the Year award, which will be determined based 60 percent on Melon download and streaming counts, 20 percent on judges’ evaluations, and 20 percent on votes.

Melon also opened voting for nine additional awards, including Album of the Year and Best Song of the Year, all of which will be determined based on the same 60-20-20 formula with one exception: the Netizen Popularity Award will be determined based 40 percent on Melon download and streaming counts and 60 percent on votes.

Other awards that have not been included in the online voting, such as Record of the Year, will be determined based entirely on judges’ evaluations and Melon performance.

Check out this year’s nominees below!

Artist of the Year and Top 10

10cm
aespa
AKMU
ASH ISLAND
Baekhyun (EXO)
Baek Yerin
Brave Girls
BTS
Heize
Homies
Huh Gak
Im Young Woong
IU
Joy (Red Velvet)
KyoungSeo
Lee Mujin
Lee Seung Gi
Lee Ye Joon
lIlBOI
Mido and Falasol (from “Hospital Playlist”)
Mirani, Munchman, Khundi Panda, and MUSHVENOM
MSG Wannabe (M.O.M)
NCT DREAM
Oh My Girl
Rosé (BLACKPINK)
SHINee
STAYC
Taeyeon (Girls’ Generation)
TWICE
Yang Yoseob (Highlight) and Jung Eun Ji (Apink)

Album of the Year

AKMU – “NEXT EPISODE”
Baek Yerin – “tellusboutyourself”
Brave Girls – “Summer Queen”
BTS – “BE”
Heize – “HAPPEN”
IU – “LILAC”
Joy (Red Velvet) – “Hello”
NCT DREAM – “Hot Sauce”
Oh My Girl – “Dear OHMYGIRL”
SHINee – “Don’t Call Me”

Best Song of the Year

aespa – “Next Level”
BTS – “Butter”
Heize – “HAPPEN”
IU – “Celebrity”
KyoungSeo – “Shiny Star” (2020)
Lee Mujin – “Traffic Light”
Mirani, Munchman, Khundi Panda, and MUSHVENOM – “VVS” (feat. JUSTHIS) (prod. GroovyRoom)
Oh My Girl – “Dun Dun Dance”
Rosé (BLACKPINK) – “On The Ground”
Song I Han – “I Will Be Your Shining Star”