MAMA Awards

History

The event was launched in 1999 as a music video awards ceremony, modeled after the MTV Video Music Awards, called the Mnet Music Video Festival. It merged with the KMTV Korean Music Awards in 2004 and was renamed the Mnet KM Music Video Festival. By the mid-2000s, the awards ceremony had attracted some international interest due to the spread of Hallyu, and it aired in China and Japan in 2008.

In 2009, the event was renamed the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) to reflect its expansion outside of South Korea. In 2010, MAMA was held in Macau, marking the first time it was held outside of South Korea. The following year, in 2011, MAMA was held in Singapore, and was then held in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2017. In 2017, the awards ceremony was expanded to four nights, and parts of the event were held in Vietnam and Japan, in addition to Hong Kong. In 2018, MAMA had three parts and was held in three countries; South Korea hosted the MAMA for the first time in nine years, together with Japan and Hong Kong. In 2020, MAMA was held online only and took place in South Korea only due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On July 20, 2021, it was reported by Ilgan Sports that the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards was undergoing discussion for the event to be held in Hong Kong despite the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. On August 23, 2022, CJ E&M announced that the event would be rebranded as simply the "MAMA Awards" going forward.

Actor and singer Park Bo-gum first hosted the show in 2017 and has hosted in 2018 and 2019. He returned to host from 2022 to 2025 and has been with the MAMA Awards through its rebranding and first foray into the United States. He has also hosted in Japan's three major domes: Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo Dome.

Timeline

• Mnet Video Music Awards (1999)
• Mnet Music Video Festival (2000–2003)
• Mnet KM Music Video Festival (2004–2005)
• Mnet KM Music Festival (2006–2008)
• Mnet Asian Music Awards (2009–2021)
• MAMA Awards (2022–present)

List of ceremonies

As Mnet Video Music Awards

As Mnet Music Video Festival (MMF)

As Mnet KM Music Video Festival (MKMF)

As Mnet KM Music Festival (MKMF)

As Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA)

As MAMA Awards

Award categories

Grand Prize

The four Grand Prize (Daesang):

• Artist of the Year
• Album of the Year
• Song of the Year
• Fan's Choice of the Year (since 2024, was known as Worldwide Icon of the Year from 2018 to 2023)

Competitive awards

Unless otherwise noted, each award category was introduced in 1999.

• Best Male Artist
• Best Female Artist
• Best Male Group (since 2000, was known as Best Group in 1999)
• Best Female Group (since 2000)
• Best New Artist
• Best Dance Performance
• Best Band Performance
• Best Rap Performance
• Best Vocal Performance (since 2010)
• Best Collaboration (2010, 2012, 2014–2017, 2019–present)
• Best OST (2004–2006, 2008–2009, 2011–2014, 2016–present)
• Best Music Video (since 2006)
• Best Choreography (since 2024)

Special awards

Main article: Mnet Asian Music Awards in the Special Awards Category

These awards have been given once or occasionally.

• Best International Artist (1999–2006, 2009–2010, 2012–2014, 2019, 2021)
• Best Asian Artist (since 2004)
• Other special awards

Discontinued awards

• Music Video of the Year (1999–2005) (former daesang award and currently Best Music Video since 2006)
• Best Popular Music Video (1999–2005) (former daesang award)
• Best Music Video Performance (2005–2007)
• Best Music Video Director (1999–2006)
• Best Mixed Group (2000–2009)
• Best Ballad Performance (1999–2009)
• Best R&B Performance (2000–2007)
• Best Indie Performance (1999–2002)
• Best House & Electronic Performance (2007–2009)
• Best Trot Performance (2009)
• Best Digital Single (2010)
• Best Unit (2018)

Most wins

Grand Prize

The following lists the artist(s) who received two or more Grand Prize (Daesang) as of 2025. (Includes Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Worldwide Icon of the Year)

Most awarded overall

Controversies

Boycotting incidents

In 2007, Lee Min-woo and Shin Hye-sung from the group Shinhwa canceled their appearance at the event one hour before the awards ceremony began. Shin later said they left because they did not trust the event to fairly select winners.

In 2009, entertainment companies Inwoo Production and SM Entertainment boycotted the 2009 awards ceremony with none of their artists attending. Both companies said the reason for their boycott was that they questioned the fairness of the voting process. In particular, SM Entertainment said that Girls' Generation had held the #1 spot on a music chart for nine consecutive weeks, but the group never won first place on Mnet's weekly M Countdown music show. The company also criticized a mobile poll which required participants to pay money in order to vote. In 2010, SM Entertainment artists also did not attend the year's awards ceremony.

Voter fraud

Prior to the 2017 awards ceremony, Mnet found that some fans had cast fraudulent votes through the use of bots. As a result, Mnet temporarily halted voting, then nullified all fraudulent votes, blocked relevant IP addresses, and deleted relevant user accounts.

Broadcasting

The ceremony broadcasts live worldwide via Mnet, TVING, tvN Asia, Mnet Japan, Mnet Smart+, other CJ ENM channels, and YouTube through Mnet K-POP, Mnet TV, M2, and KCON channels.

Other broadcasters that also broadcast the event includes au Smart Pass, Far EasTone Mobile Circle app & friDay Video, MeWATCH, TonTon, FPT Play, JOOX, ViuTV, Smart Livestream, and Vidio.

Notes

References

References

1. Jeff Benjamin. "MAMA Awards Rebrands With New Name, Sets Dates & Location for 2022 Ceremony: Exclusive".
2. St. Michel, Patrick. (December 4, 2017). "This Three-Country, Four-Night Asian Music Awards Show Is A K-Pop Promotion Machine". [[NPR]].
3. Reinfrank, Alkira. (December 2, 2017). "Supergroup BTS clean up at Asia's biggest K-pop awards show". [[South China Morning Post]].
4. Mathew, Ilin. "Mnet Asian Music Awards 2017 live stream: Where to watch MAMA online and broadcast channel information". International Business Times, India Edition.
5. Benjamin, Jeff. "2025 MAMA Awards Winners Full List: ROSÉ, G-Dragon, aespa & More Lead". Forbes.
6. "1999 Mnet Video Music Awards". CJ E&M.
7. link. [[Yonhap News Agency]]. Hong. Je-sung. (November 8, 2004)
8. link. Joy News 24. Bae. Young-eun. (December 5, 2004)
9. Kim, Jae-heun. (November 12, 2015). "Mnet Asian Music Awards: new global platform for K-pop stars". [[The Korea Times]].
10. (November 30, 2017). "TWICE wins Song of Year Award at 2017 MAMA with 'Signal'". [[Yonhap News Agency]].
11. link
12. (September 21, 2020). "Mnet to hold online Asian music award event due to COVID-19 pandemic".
13. (September 21, 2020). "K-pop awards show MAMA to be held online due to COVID-19".
14. 장, 동우. (September 21, 2020). "K-pop awards show MAMA to be held online due to COVID-19".
15. link. [[Ilgan Sports]]. Hwang. Ji-young. (July 20, 2021)
16. Benjamin, Jeff. (August 23, 2022). "MAMA Awards Rebrands With New Name, Sets Dates & Location for 2022 Ceremony: Exclusive".
17. Jun-hee, Park. (October 29, 2025). "Park Bo-gum to host first day of 2025 MAMA Awards".
18. "2003 Mnet Music Video Festival". CJ E&M.
19. "2005 Mnet KM Music Video Festival". CJ E&M.
20. "2008 Mnet KM Music Festival". CJ E&M.
21. "MAMA History". CJ E&M.
22. "MAMA History".
23. link. Han. Na-young. (December 3, 2018)
24. link. Xports News. Jeon. Ah-ram. (December 2, 2019)
25. link. [[Maeil Business Newspaper]]. Lee. Da-gyeom. (November 24, 2020)
26. link. News1. Kim. Min-ji. (October 13, 2021)
27. link. Newsen. (November 16, 2022)
28. link. 김. 진석
29. link. 곽현수. (October 29, 2024)
30. (October 29, 2025). "Park Bo-gum to Host 2025 MAMA Awards".
31. link. Star News. Yeon-ji. Kim. (November 17, 2007)
32. Kim, Jessica. (November 3, 2009). "SM singers boycott Mnet music award". Asia Economy.
33. link. [[The Dong-a Ilbo]]. 김원겸. (November 17, 2010)
34. Herman, Tamar. (November 3, 2017). "2017 MAMA Awards Shut Down Voting to Address Fraud Issues".
35. (November 3, 2017). "Mnet takes action against ballot rigging in year-end K-pop awards". [[Yonhap News Agency]].