MMA2026 Opens TOP10 Voting With 30 Artists Nominated

The 2026 Melon Music Awards (MMA2026) has opened voting for its TOP10 awards, naming 30 nominated artists ahead of the November ceremony.

Voting began October 15 and runs through October 29. The ten eventual recipients will be determined using a combination of digital music performance (60%), judging (20%) and fan voting (20%).

The nominees span established acts and newer artists, including BTS, BLACKPINK, aespa, ILLIT, ATEEZ, BOYNEXTDOOR, CORTIS, Hearts2Hearts, IVE, KiiiKiii, LE SSERAFIM, NCT WISH, NMIXX, PLAVE, RESCENE, RIIZE and TWS.

Melon also confirms that TOP10 voting scores will contribute to the calculation of its Artist of the Year award.

The voting announcement follows the previously confirmed 26-artist performance lineup for MMA2026, which will take place across November 14 and 15 at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome. Nomination for TOP10 does not, by itself, establish that an artist will perform at the ceremony.

Separate Japan Favorite Artist vote confirmed

Japanese streaming platform U-NEXT has separately announced five nominees for its Japan Favorite Artist award:

* CORTIS * ILLIT * IVE * NCT WISH * RIIZE

This category is distinct from Melon’s TOP10 and Global TOP10 awards. Its result will combine judging (50%) and fan voting (50%).

Voting through U-NEXT begins October 30 at noon JST and closes November 13 at 11:59 p.m. JST.

Registered U-NEXT users without a qualifying paid plan can cast one vote per day, while eligible subscription-plan users can receive three daily votes, including the additional voting allocation.

The winning artist will be announced during MMA2026.

How to vote

Melon’s TOP10 ballot is available through its official MMA2026 website. The platform’s published schedule also lists additional category voting from October 30 through November 13.

MMA2026 will take place November 14–15 at Gocheok Sky Dome, with the ceremonies scheduled for 6 p.m. KST each day.