Melon Music Awards to return with first 2-day ceremony in November

The 2026 Melon Music Awards (MMA) ceremony will span two days in November, according to Kakao Entertainment on Tuesday, for the first multiday edition.

The pop music awards ceremony, now in its 18th year, is set to take place at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro District, western Seoul, on Nov. 14 and 15.

This year’s ceremony will be held under the slogan “K-Pop Connect: The New Pulse” and will focus on connecting global K-pop fans through music.

This year’s event will add award categories based on the “Global K-Chart,” a new music chart that Melon, a music streaming platform and the event’s host, launched in collaboration with Tencent Music and Line Music on June 1.

The Global K-Chart interprets comprehensive data from major music streaming platforms in Korea, Japan and China. It also reviews active fandom activities, including comments and likes, on different platforms across the three countries.

Fans will be able to participate in various preceremony events, such as fan voting, with more details to be released on Melon’s dedicated MMA page leading up to the award ceremony.

“The MMA is the biggest K-pop festival, built through 22 years’ worth of Melon’s data and fans’ support,” said a Melon representative. “We will set up this year’s ceremony to be a two-day-long event for the first time in its history.”

BY LEE JI-WON [[email protected]]