With the two-day K-pop spectacular officially kicking off on November 14, 2026, at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, South Korea, we now present to you the Winners of Melon Music Awards 2026 Day 1 as this year’s ceremony, which marks the 18th annual event, starts to reveal its winners. The main concept behind this year’s Melon Music Awards is “Connect” with the slogan being “K-POP CONNECT: The New Pulse,” celebrating the fact that music connects artists to their fans regardless of borders, cultures, and generations.
The events kicked off with the Melon Music Awards 2026 red carpet event hosted by YouTuber and Master of Ceremonies, Mimiminu. Artists and presenters were invited before the main event, which was slated to take place from 6 pm KST onwards. Some of the artists who graced the event included HANA, Hearts2Hearts, AEN, TUIDE, RESCENE, IDID, Dragon Pony, RIIZE, TWS, aespa, Yena, ATEEZ, and NCT DREAM, among others. There were a few glimpses of the performances to be expected, where some artists showed off special dance breaks, surprise stages, and even anniversaries. The trend of black and white attire was also noticeable at the event.
As the main event finally kicked off, Dragon Pony made an appearance and performed a special performance called “Brilliant Imperfect: To Our Youth,” before performing “Calling Back.” RIIZE was the first winner of the evening, winning the Global TOP10 award, soon followed by BTS, who also claimed the prize; they also won the award for Stage of the Year thanks to their amazing ARIRANG tour. With many more awards and performances yet to be announced at MMA 2026 Day 1, the hype surrounding this year’s MMA is just getting started. Here is the continuously updated list of Day 1 winners of the 18th Melon Music Awards!
Winners of Melon Music Awards 2026 Day 1
Global TOP10
RIIZE
BTS
Rescene
G-DRAGON
aespa
Hearts2Hearts
Stage of the Year
BTS for ARIRANG Tour
KakaoBank Everyone’s Star Award
Rescene
Best Performance (Male)
ATEEZ
RIIZE
Best Music Style
I.O.I
J-pop Favorite Artist
HANA
Hot Trend
ATEEZ
Rescene
Global Impact Artist
Hearts2Hearts
TWS
Best Pop Artist
Bruno Mars
Best OST
Love Language by Kim Min-seok (Can This Love Be Translated?)
Best Producer
Kim Hyun-jung (BigHit Music)
Global Rising Artist
TUIDE
Best Solo (Female)
YENA
Best Solo (Male)
Lim Young-woong
Top10
Hearts2Hearts
I.O.I
Congratulations to all the Melon Music Awards 2026 Winners!
Global-K Artist of the Year
aespa
MMA 2026 Ablum of the Year (Daesang aka Grand Prize)
BTS for ARIRANG
