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The Hangang Artistry Awards (formerly known as the MBS Artist Awards from 2016 to 2023), is an annual year-end awards show and music concert sponsored by MBS that honors both mainstream and underground musical artists in the South Korean music scene, not only in K-pop but also in other genres. Unlike other South Korean music awards, the Hangang Artistry Awards are based on musical achievement rather than record sales. Winners are determined by the Hangang Committee panel comprising musicians, music critics, radio show producers, academics, and other music industry professionals. [1] It is one of the most prestigious award ceremonies in South Korea, being regarded by some media organizations as the local equivalent of the Grammy Awards in the United States.
The Hangang Artistry Awards is the successor of the MBS Gayo Daejeon, which ran from 1992 to 1999, and was rebranded in 2000 as the Hangang Artistry Awards, aiming to reward outstanding and excellent artists in the music and entertainment industry. Its long-term motto is "Celebrating artistic and musical diversity since 2000."
Official rules[]
Entry process and selection of nominees[]
A Hangang trophy, also known as a Hankie
The eligibility process for the Hangang Artistry Awards runs from November 1st of the previous calendar year to October 31st of the current calendar year. South Korean entertainment agencies and record labels, as well as independent musicians who are based in or release original content in South Korea, may submit their nominations for consideration to the Hangang Committee, which is an association of over 200+ national recording engineers, producers, musicians, and other music industry professionals in South Korea. The committee reportedly begins evaluating or reviewing prospective nominees as early as September, but only reveals their nominations sometime in the first week of November.
After the nominations are revealed, the final voting ballots are sent to participating members of the Hangang Committee and a pool of 100 guest voters from across the music industry, who range from broadcasting executives to K-pop idols. Voters are mandated to vote in all four categories of the Grand Prizes and the Artist Awards, while optionally being allowed to vote in their fields of expertise, including a minimum of two votes in the Genre Categories (K-pop music, ballad/folk music, hip-hop/rap music, R&B/soul music, metal/rock music, Christian/gospel music, alternative music) and two votes in the Technical/Creatives categories (album songwriting and production, label management, music videos, packaging designs, and live performances). The final voting takes place until 1-1.5 weeks before the ceremony.
In the 2018 MBS Artist Awards, the Hangang Committee President publicly released a memo advising voters to strictly cast their votes based purely on the quality of the work, setting aside factors such as commercial sales, personal relationships, political biases, and company affiliations. Following allegations of attempted vote buying, the acceptance of gifts has been strictly banned and will lead to the voiding of a members' votes, or if a member of the Hangang Committee, expulsion. While registered media companies are permitted to submit entries, they hold no voting privileges. Ballots are tabulated secretly by an independent accounting firm.
Event History[]
The first edition of the Hangang Artistry Awards took place behind closed doors at the MBS Event Hall in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, South Korea.
| # | Year | Date | Venue | Host(s) | Viewership Ratings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2000 | December 2000 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | No data |
| 2nd | 2001 | December 2001 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 3rd | 2002 | December 2002 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 4th | 2003 | December 2003 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 5th | 2004 | December 2004 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 6th | 2005 | December 2005 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 7th | 2006 | December 2006 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 8th | 2007 | December 2007 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 9th | 2008 | December 2008 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 10th | 2009 | December 2009 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 11th | 2010 | December 2010 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 12th | 2011 | December 2011 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 13th | 2012 | December 2012 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 14th | 2013 | December 2013 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 15th | 2014 | December 2014 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| 16th | 2015 | December 2015 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | |
| Rename to MBS Artist Awards | |||||
| 17th | 2016 | December 2016 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | 5.02% |
| 18th | 2017 | December 2017 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | 5.05% |
| 19th | 2018 | December 2018 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | 5.19% |
| 20th | 2019 | December 2019 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | 5.22% |
| 21st | 2020 | December 2020 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | N/A | 5.36% |
| 22nd | 2021 | December 11, 2021 | Nodeul Live House, Seoul | Park Juhwang | 7.36% |
| 23rd | 2022 | December 12, 2022 | Hangang Center, Seoul | 14.55% | |
| 24th | 2023 | December 8, 2023 | Hangang Center, Seoul | Im Minseok | 12.17% |
| Rename back to Hangang Artistry Awards | |||||
| 25th | 2024 | December 1, 2024 | Hangang Center, Seoul | N/A | 16.20% |
| 26th | 2025 | December 2025 | Hangang Center, Seoul | ||
Categories[]
Artist of the Year |
Album of the Year |
Song of the Year |
Creator of the Year |
The Grand Prizes (also colloquially known as the "Big Four") are the main and prestigious awards for musical works, which are general and do not restrict nominees by genre, size or any other criterion.
- Artist of the Year is awarded to an artist without reference to a song or album.
- Creator of the Year is awarded to songwriters and producers with reference to notable musical works they have contributed to.
- Album of the Year is awarded to the performer, songwriter(s), and the production team of a full album.
- Song of the Year is awarded to the performer, songwriter(s), and the production team of a song.
List of categories[]
There are a total of 29 categories awarded at the Hangang Artistry Awards, divided into the General Prizes (4), Artist Field (8), Technical/Creative Field (5), and Genre Field (16). Some of the General Prizes and Artist Field categories were adopted from its predecessor the MBS Gayo Daejeon, which ran from 1992 to 1999.
2025 List[]
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History[]
| Award | Description |
|---|---|
| 2000 |
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| 2005 |
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| 2008 |
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| 2010 |
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| 2016 |
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| 2017 |
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| 2020 |
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| 2025 |
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SPECIAL HONORS[]
Lifetime Achievement Award[]
The Lifetime Achievement Award has been awarded to artists who have been honored as "icons" due to their continuous impact or artistic contributions to the music industry. The most recent recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award are rm8z and Ni.U, who received their trophies and performed a medley of their songs at the 2024 Hangang Artistry Awards. Approximately 40 figures in the South Korean music industry have been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award since it was first presented in 2000.
| Year | Recipient | For |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Chun Jihye | "For her profound contributions in opening the doors for R&B and soul to be a lucrative genre in the Korean music industry." |
| Park Danho | "For his three decades worth of performing and production in the alternative music scene, from being the brain of death metal band Bloodhouse Banter to his iconic solo albums that remain embedded in the consciousness of the indie scene forever." | |
| 2019 | Cloud Nine | "For their successful run from the 1990s to 2000s which was a display of their authentic creative visions that upholded values of resilience and empowerment in the backdrop of a highly-controlled show business." |
| Lady Ruby | "For her profound contributions in carving a space for female rappers in Korean hip-hop, as well as her continuous unapologetic efforts to promote gender equality and representation of women in the music industry." | |
| 2020 | ENVY | |
| 2022 | Geonu | |
| Siren | ||
| 2023 | 6topia | |
| 2024 | rm8z | |
| Ni.U | ||
| 2026 | Byun Yanbin |
Criticism[]
Hangang Artistry Awards Album of the Year nominees of 2023 and 2024. Artists such as Xavier Luna, EPHEMERA, and R3THR0 have been labelled "Hangang darlings" by some netizens for constantly being nominated in almost every year they release music.
Lack of representation[]
The Hangang Committee has been criticized on numerous occasions for its usually underwhelming nomination choices and bias towards particular artists or genres. In early 2010, music journalist Kang Kyung-hee noted that vast majority of nominations in the General Categories in all of the previous ceremonies were "disproportionately consisting of mainstream pop, ballad, classic rock, and religious music, often from the same, already-established names in the industry." The article drew significant favorable reactions from music fans across Korea, with songwriter Han A-reum disclosing that she used to be part of the Hangang Selection committee in the early 2000s. She revealed that "majority of the committee voters were ultraconservative older men who dismisses anything niche or genre-defying, rather equating excellence with anything that fits their traditional criteria." In 2013, with increasing interest in the ceremony, the Hangang Committee revealed that they were committing to overhauling their voter base by increasing membership counts and attracting younger or more diverse figures in the industry.
Bribery[]
In 2018, Cloud Nine member and comedian Hwang Yugeum coined the term "Hangang darling" in an episode of the variety show Sisters Class. The term has been since used to refer to artists who receive an unusual or unprecedented amount of recognition or nominations at the ceremony. "Hangang darling" either describes a popular singer that voters default to for nominations or a lesser recognized or averagely acclaimed artist who somehow always gets nominated in the big categories, the term "Hangang Darling" was traditionally used in a negative connotation, tending to get associated with allegations of committee nepotism or excessive campaigning.
Despite acts such as accepting gifts and money have been banned among Hangang Artistry Awards voters since its founding, allegations of favoritism and bribery in the ceremony used to run rampant from the early 2000s to mid-2010s, and only stopped following a major overhaul of the ceremony's voting committee as the Hangang Committee elected a new president.
Milestones[]
Most competitive wins[]
Most competitive wins - solo artists[]
| Rank | Artists | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chun Jihye | 12 |
| 2 | Byun Yanbin | 10 |
| 3 | Ni.U | 9 |
| 4 | Park Danho | 7 |
| 5 | Park Minjun | 6 |
| HARAM |
Most competitive wins - duo/group artists[]
| Rank | Artists | Wins |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | R3THR0 | 5 |
| 6topia | ||
| 2 | EPHEMERA | 4 |
| 3 | rm8z | 3 |
| khaos | ||
| 4 | SOLVIZ | 2 |
| Nabi |
Meet the hangang voters[]
The Hangang Academy is an independent association of over 200+ national recording engineers, producers, musicians, and other music industry professionals in South Korea. They are the voter base of the annual Hangang Artistry Awards, which has been taking place since 2000. Apart from award show voting, the Hangang Academy also notably hosts events promoting rising artists as well as advocating for the better treatment of musicians and all workers in the music industry. This is a dynamic list of music industry figures who are among the 200+ registered members of the Hangang Committee, the voting body of the award show every year:
- Aaron Cho, singer, songwriter, and former member of Randomize and ORCHID
- Bae Yeju, singer and former member of LUNIVER
- Bonbon, singer and businessman
- Byun Yanbin, musician and songwriter
- Chae Dahee, singer, composer, and member of SWEETEST
- Chun Miyeon, music critic, academic, and journalist
- Lady Ruby, rapper
- Ji Byeonghwi, singer-songwriter, radio host, and member of EPHEMERA
- Jin Hyunah, singer and member of BEAUDENT
- Hanyeul.P, rapper
- Han Yul, singer-songwriter and former member of NEVE and SOLVIZ
- Hong Heonbo, singer-songwriter, rapper, and member of Anomii
- Hwang Yugeum, singer, comedian, and member of Cloud Nine
- Kang Jihye, singer, television personality, and businesswoman
- Kang Sua, singer and member of Cloud Nine
- Khan, singer-songwriter, producer, and model
- Kwon Janghun, musician, producer, and member of Adam and the Sock Puppet
- Kyler Kim, musician, producer, and former member of SOLUNEX
- Meita, singer, television personality and former member of @mie
- Mochizuki Kozue, singer and former member of Randomize and LUNIVER
- Nikolai Park, singer-songwriter, composer, instrumentalist, and member of khaos
- Paek Beomjun, singer, member of HALCYON
- Park Danho, musician, guitarist, and founder of metal band Bloodhouse Banter
- Park Miah, singer, businesswoman and member of Cloud Nine
- Park Minjun, musician and instrumentalist
- Rania, singer-songwriter and producer
- Rebecca Jung, singer and member of Cloud Nine
- Shin Wooseong, singer, dancer, and former member of INFIN81
- Seo Daehyun, singer and member of khaos
- Tia Sara Murro Despujol, singer and member of Sugarr
- Won Taehyun, singer-songwriter and actor
- Ye Eunchae, singer, composer, executive, and former member of ANGELE
- Yong Hwa, singer, songwriter, and composer
- Yoon Jihan, singer-songwriter, actor, and frontman of The Last Children of Presagia
References[]
- ↑ Text adapted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Korean_Music_Awards
[]
 | |
|---|---|
| Editions | |
| 2000 · 2021 · 2022 · 2023 · 2024 · 2025 | |
| Daesang Winners | |
| Artist of the Year | Geonu (2021) · C9PID (2022) · NAIAD (2023) · JΣПΣЯΛƬIӨП (2024) |
| Album of the Year | Retrogression (2002) · Listen To Me On The Radio (2005) · Youth (2012) · That Summer I Fell In Love (2016) · Red Light (2018) · Hyo (2021) · Coffee Break (2022) · Memoirs of a Rookie Idol (2023) · Playtesting (2024) |
| Song of the Year | "Pipipabpab" (2020) · "Ignored The Danger Sign" (2021) · "Like Dancing" (2022) · "K-Fanon" (2023) · "Your Rockstar" (2024) |
| Creator of the Year | 4REALMS (2021, 2022, 2023) · DEC (2024) |
| Artist Winners | |
| Best New Artist | BRITOMARTIS (2010) · Siren (2011) · khaos (2012) · Shogun Serenade (2013) · Park Minjun (2014) · Geonu (2015) · HARAM (2016) · Sequoia (2017) · NAIAD (2018) · Ahn Minhui (2019) · Ni.U (2020) · Clover (2021) · SOLVIZ (2022) · EPHEMERA (2023) · Nabi (2024) |
| Album Awards | |
| Best K-pop Solo Album | Stress (2021) · The Ni.Unity (2022) · Hakutopia (2023) · Ingénue (2024) |
| Best K-pop Duo/Group Album | Children of Chaos (2020) · The Magic Night (2021) · Recollections of the Mind and Memory (2022) · Memoirs of a Rookie Idol (2023) · Playtesting (2024) |
| Best K-pop Duo/Group Recording | "To Be Continued" (2017) · "Set Me Free" (2021) · "Fiend" (2022) · "Sun & Storm" (2023) · "DallaDallaDalla" (2024) |
| Best Ballad/Folk Album | That Summer I Fell In Love (2016) · Red Light (2018) · Hyo (2021) · Girlhood (2023) · Soul Soothers (2024) |
| Best Hip-Hop/Rap Album | Dumb, Bad, and Mad (2008) · Broadcasting Live From The Spiral (2024) |
| Main Details | ||
|---|---|---|
| Universe Compendium · Timeline · OC Index · Q&A | ||
| Active Artists | ||
| K-pop groups | Anomii · I'M YOUR BOY · LILYDIVA · Carboncopyluv | |
| K-pop soloists | Han Yul | |
| K-pop bands | The Last Children of Presagia | |
| Indie artists | Byun Yanbin · Heera · Won Heeun · Won Taehyun · Yong Hwa · Park Minjun · Park Danho · Lady Ruby | |
| Producers | SYNTHIA | |
| Former Artists | ||
| Disbanded | SOLVIZ · Randomize · Sugartime | |
| Deceased | Chun Jihye | |
| Companies | ||
| Entertainment | 24D Entertainment · 484 Company · CNF Entertainment | |
| Miscellaneous | MBS · Seonroja · Xiverse Technologies (BE.LIV · Flock And Thread · Realmu) | |
| Media | ||
| Drama programs | Bitter Daydreamers | |
| Music programs | SOL Puzzle · Rankdown @ MBS · Into The Spotlight | |
| Variety programs | Sisters Class | |
| Films | One-Hit Worship · Fate Follows | |
| Award shows | Hangang Artistry Awards | |