The 2026 MAMA Awards nominees are in, and the top of the board is a showdown between two K-pop heavyweights. BIGBANG edges ahead with eight nominations across the group and its members, while BTS sits right behind with seven.
BIGBANG’s group nods include Best Male Group, Artist of the Year, Best Music Video and Best Dance Performance Male Group for “BiiiG.” Taeyang adds three solo nominations, among them Best Male Artist and Best Dance Performance Male Solo for “LIVE FAST DIE SLOW,” and G-Dragon earns a Best Collaboration nod for “WDA” with aespa.
BTS counts five group nominations, including Best Vocal Performance Group for “SWIM,” Best Music Video for “2.0” and Album of the Year for ARIRANG. J-Hope adds two more.
The field is deep. TOMORROW X TOGETHER lands six nominations, while MAMAMOO, aespa, ATEEZ, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT and CORTIS each pick up five. The Album of the Year category features 18 releases from established acts and newer groups, and only albums with more than one million copies sold are eligible.
The ceremony takes place November 20 and 21 at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Japan and will stream worldwide on Mnet Plus. Music released between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026 is eligible. Fans’ Choice voting is already underway, with the first round running through October 22 KST.
