Here are the winners of three most important Daesangs at MAMA over the last 15 years

Daesang is the dream of all active artists in Korea’s music industry, but of course, not everyone can once win this noble award.

Before the official awards ceremony takes place, the 2021 MAMA recently announced the nominations for important awards, including Daesang. Before we find out which artists will be honored with the biggest awards at this year’s MAMA, let’s take a look at the memorable journey of the 3 most important Daesangs in the history of MAMA, to see which are the artists who had the honor of receiving these prestigious trophies.

Song of the Year

Song of the Year is an award honoring songs that make an outstanding impression on listeners each year. Mnet often sets different criteria for MAMA’s award categories every year, but in general, the winner of Song of the Year is often determined based on achievements as measured by metrics (music downloads, streaming,…). 

TWICE holds the record of winning the most Song of the Year awards. TWICE received this Daesang for their hit songs for 3 consecutive years from 2016 to 2018, followed by BIGBANG, 2NE1 and BTS (2 wins each group).

2006: “Partner for Life” (SG Wannabe)

2007: “Lies” (BIGBANG)

2008: “Nobody” (Wonder Girls)

2009: “I Don’t Care” (2NE1)

2010: “Bad Girl Good Girl” (Miss A)

2011: “I Am the Best” (2NE1)

2012: “Gangnam Style” (PSY)

2013: “Bounce” (Cho Yong-pil)

2014: “Eyes, Nose, Lips” (Taeyang)

2015: “Bang Bang Bang” (BIGBANG)

2016: “Cheer Up” (Twice)

2017: “Signal” (Twice)

2018: “What Is Love” (Twice)

2019: “Boy With Luv” (BTS)

2020: “Dynamite” (BTS)

Album of the Year

The winner of Album of the Year is decided based on two key metrics, physical album sales and professionals’ evaluations of the album’s quality. 

The artist that holds the record for having won the most MAMA’s Daesang Album is EXO with 5 trophies from 2013 to 2017. Here is the detailed list of the winners over the years:

2006: “The 3rd Masterpiece” (SG Wannabe)

2007: “Remapping the Human Soul” (Epik High)

2008: “Mirotic” (TVXQ)

2009: “Heartbreaker” (G-Dragon)

2010: “To Anyone” (2NE1)

2011: “Mr. Simple” (Super Junior)

2012: “Sexy, Free & Single” (Super Junior)

2013: “XOXO” (EXO)

2014: “Overdose” (EXO)

2015: “EXODUS” (EXO)

2016: “EX’ACT” (EXO)

2017: “The War” (EXO)

2018: “Love Yourself: Tear” (BTS)

2019: “Map of the Soul: Persona” (BTS)

2020: “Map of the Soul: 7” (BTS)

Artist of the Year

Artist of the Year is an award honoring artists with outstanding achievements and activities within a year. This award’s criteria is also renewed by Mnet each year, but in general, it is still based on major factors including: album sales, digital performance and judges’ evaluations.

BTS currently holds the record of winning the most MAMA’s Artist of the Year awards with a total of 5 times from 2016 until now (and still shows no sign of stopping).

2006: TVXQ

2007: Super Junior

2008: BIGBANG

2009: 2PM

2010: 2NE1

2011: SNSD

2012: BIGBANG

2013: G-Dragon

2014: EXO

2015: BIGBANG

2016: BTS

2017: BTS

2018: BTS

2019: BTS

2020: BTS

In 2021, MAMA has confirmed major changes in choosing the winners when 3 out of 4 Daesang awards (along with most of the remaining artist, genre, album awards) will no longer be fan voted. The winners are determined according to actual performances on the charts and judges’ evaluations. Worldwide Icon of the Year is the only Daesang award that still keeps the fan vote criteria, and the results of global fan votes will 100% decide the final winner.

Which artists do you think will take home the 3 most prestigious Daesang awards at this year’s MAMA?