Music Count (Korean: 뮤직 카운트) is a South Korean music program. It broadcasts live every Thursday at 5:30 P.M. KST on SBC in South Korea and is available to stream on Hulu internationally.
Music Count premiered on April 24, 2025, and airs for 90 minutes. Currently, the program is hosted by Yujin (SYRIN), Lei Liang (ARCROWN), and Sori (MiXXiS).
History[]
2019-Present: Overview[]
Since its founding in 1995, the TV Program SBC has aired many reality survival shows, reality shows, documentaries, and others. In 2019, SBC announced they would begin a TV Program for idols to promote their new releases, but does to COVID, these plans were cancelled. Shortly after COVID-19 restrictions lessened, SBC began airing the first episode on April 24, 2025.
The show consists of a certain number of artists, whether it be soloists or groups, performing their songs on the show to promote new releases. The company/artists chooses the sets for the stages, and SBC funds them and sets them up.
For the last episode of each season, many idols who performed throughout the year come together on one collaboration stage, wowing fans from around the world. These songs can be Korean Pop or Western Pop.
MC’s for the show rotate every six months, with 2-3 MC’s being present on the show at a time. Any idols can audition for the role of MC, and if the current MC wants to extend their contract, they will have to re-audition and get accepted again.
During performances, artists are required to sing live unless there is an underlying circumstance where they cannot. Regardless of this, there will be a pre-recording session the day of before the show, and the idols can choose whether they want to use the pre-recording or live singing when it is uploaded on streaming platforms.
Format[]
Music Count has a runtime of 90 minutes. It features a different number of performers per show, about an average of six per. All artists perform their main single, whilst some also perform promotional B-sides. Companies put forward their artists for selection for the program, which are then selected by the producers, but groups and soloists who apply typically have a 80% chance of being shown on the show. Artists can attempt to promote on the show for up to four weeks after the release of the single they are promoting.
Prior to each performance, the group or soloist is introduced with a video on the large screens on stage, introducing them and their releases simultaneously. At the start of the program itself, the MC’s are introduced in a similar fashion. At the start of the program, the list of performers and songs they will perform are revealed in order, this is the same for any special performances. The program is then properly introduced by the MCs, who introduce themselves and introduce some of the performing artists personally instead of by screen. All interviews are also broadcast live, as opposed to being pre-recorded (save for certain exceptions).
Following all performances and interviews, the end of the program sees all performers present, alongside the hosts and any guest stars, gather onstage. The top two groups/soloists are at the front, and are announced by the MC’s. Following a suspenseful process of revealing scores, the winner is crowned first place and earns a trophy. It is common for the groups/soloists to perform a live encore, unless they are not there. In that case, the music to the song will still play, and other artists will depart from the stage the same.
Awards[]
- First Place: This award goes to the artist who wins first place on individual episode airings, where they receive a trophy.
- Song of the Year: This award goest to the artist who won the most first place trophies from one song throughout the year.
- Highest Score Award: This award goes to the artist who won the highest score throughout the year. This award is given to only one artist exclusively at the end of year episode airings.
- Yearly Crown: This award is given to the artist who wins the most first place trophies throughout the year. This is given to one female group, one male group, one female soloist, and one male soloist exclusively at the end of year episode airing.
Music Count chart and eligibility[]
Chart eligibility[]
Any single released in South Korea is eligible to win, as long as the artist is actively promoting the release in South Korea. Therefore, promotional singles and OST's are eligible to win as long as they are promoted in the country.
Voting takes place on the SBC+ app where users can vote up to five times daily for their favorite songs, regardless of where they are located around the globe. Songs can achieve a maximum point score of 10,000.
Below is the chart system for the "Music Count" as of 2025.
| Period covered | Chart system | Total points | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voting | Music video views | Physical sales | Digital sales (Streaming & Downloads) | |||
| April 24, 2025-Present | 12.5% live vote (via SBC+ app). | 20% Pre-Vote (via SBC+ app) | 5% (views of music video on YouTube). | 25% (tracked via Circle albums chart). | 37.5% (Tracks Bugs, Melon, Flo, Genie, Apple Music, and Spotify). | 10,000 points. |
| 1,250 points. | 2,000 points. | 500 points. | 2,500 points. | 3,750 points. | ||
Audience eligibility[]
Users of the SBC+ app can purchase tickets up to a month in advance for entry, with a maximum of 3,000 people attending an episode’s set. Audience members’s votes count for 1/3 of a vote, and if the final number of votes is not a whole number, it will always be rounded up. Members of the audience may vote for five performances. Ticket applicants are all given equal weighting, regardless of whether they have won tickets before.
Companies can choose to purchase up to 10% of tickets within the ballot and instead sell them to fans of the companies' groups, in order to ensure their performers have an adequate number of fans in the crowd.
Hosts[]
| Date | Hosts |
|---|---|
| April 25, 2025-Present | Yujin (SYRIN), Lei Liang (ARCROWN), Sori (MiXXiS) |
List of Episodes, Nominations, Wins[]
Season 1 (2025)[]
| No. in season | No. overall | Air date | Nominations + Win | Score | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Place | Second Place | ||||
| 1 | 1 | April 24, 2025 | Moon Yujin (DO OR DIE) | Xavier Luna, Chae Dahee, DEC, Soyeon (Antiretro) | 8,709 vs. 8,681 |
| 2 | 2 | May 1, 2025 | 5thSeason (Butterfly) | Moon Yujin (DO OR DIE) | 8,832 vs. 8,551 |
| 3 | 3 | May 8, 2025 | SERAIN (Is Anyone Listening?) | Moon Yujin (FUFN) | 8,901 vs. 8,331 |
| 4 | 4 | May 15, 2025 | BEAUDENT (Closer To You) | DREAMSCAPE (Super Shy) | 8,842 vs. 7,876 |
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The first artist to perform on the program was DREAMSCAPE, with their single "ETA".
- The first artist to win First Place was Moon Yujin, with their single "DO OR DIE".
- The first male solo artist to win First Place was Moon Yujin, with their single "DO OR DIE".
- The first female group to win First Place was 5thSeason, with their single “Butterfly”.
- The first male group to win First Place was SERAIN, with their single “Is Anyone Listening?”.