The MAMA Awards (, formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ ENM. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes have been won by K-pop artists, although there are other Asian artists winning in various award categories, such as for Best Asian Artist and other professional-related awards.
The awards ceremony was first held in Seoul in 1999, being aired on Mnet. MAMA has also been held in various Asian countries and cities outside of South Korea since 2010 and now airs internationally online beyond Asia.
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 Year Date City Venue Host(s) 1999 November 27 Seoul Universal Arts Center Choi Hal-li
As Mnet Music Video Festival (MMF) Year Date City Venue Host(s) 2000 November 24 Seoul Universal Arts Center Cha Tae-hyun and Kim Hyun-joo 2001 November 23 Cha Tae-hyun and Song Hye-kyo 2002 November 29 Shin Dong-yup and Kim Jung-eun 2003 November 27 Kyung Hee University Cha Tae-hyun and Sung Yu-ri
As Mnet KM Music Video Festival (MKMF) Year Date City Venue Host(s) 2004 December 4 Seoul Kyung Hee University Shin Dong-yup and Kim Jung-eun 2005 November 27 Olympic Gymnastics Arena Shin Dong-yup and Kim Ah-joong
As Mnet KM Music Festival (MKMF) Year Date City Venue Host(s) 2006 November 25 Seoul Olympic Gymnastics Arena Shin Dong-yup and Kim Ok-bin 2007 November 17 Seoul Sports Complex Shin Dong-yup and Lee Da-hae 2008 November 15 Rain
As Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) Year Date City Venue Host(s) 2009 November 21 Seoul Seoul Sports Complex Tiger JK 2010 November 28 Macau Cotai Arena, The Venetian Macao 2011 November 29 Singapore Singapore Indoor Stadium Lee Byung-hun 2012 November 30 Hong Kong Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre Song Joong-ki 2013 November 22 AsiaWorld–Arena Lee Seung-gi 2014 December 3 Song Seung-heon 2015 December 2 Psy 2016 December 2 Lee Byung-hun 2017 November 25 Ho Chi Minh City Hoa Binh Theatre Thu Minh November 29 Yokohama Yokohama Arena Park Bo-gum November 30 Hong Kong W Hong Kong December 1 AsiaWorld–Arena Song Joong-ki 2018 December 10 Seoul Dongdaemun Design Plaza Jung Hae-in December 12 Saitama Saitama Super Arena Park Bo-gum December 14 Hong Kong AsiaWorld–Arena Song Joong-ki 2019 December 4 Nagoya Nagoya Dome Park Bo-gum 2020 December 6 Paju CJ E&M Contents World Song Joong-ki 2021 December 11 Lee Hyori
As MAMA Awards Year Date City Venue Host(s) 2022 November 29–30 Osaka Kyocera Dome Jeon Somi and Park Bo-gum 2023 November 28–29 Tokyo Tokyo Dome 2024 November 21 Los Angeles Dolby Theatre Park Bo-gum November 22 Osaka Kyocera Dome Karina, Sung Han-bin, Rei, Yoshi November 23 Kim Tae-ri 2025 November 28–29 Hong Kong Kai Tak Stadium Park Bo-gum, Kim Hye-soo2026November 20–21OsakaKyocera Dome
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
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) Best Popular Music Video (1999–2005) 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. Record set Artist(s) First year awarded Recent year awarded 21 BTS 2016 2023 6 Exo 2013 2017 5 Big Bang 2008 2015 4 2NE1 2009 2011 3 Super Junior 2007 2012 Twice 2016 2018 Seventeen 2023 2024 G-Dragon 2009 2025 2 H.O.T. 1999 2000 BoA 2002 2004 SG Wannabe 2006 2006 TVXQ 2005 2008 NewJeans 2023 2023
Most awarded overall Record set Artist(s) 52 BTS 24 Seventeen 19 Twice 16 Exo 13 Big Bang Super Junior 12 IU Aespa 11 Blackpink TVXQ 10 2NE1 Psy Shinhwa
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, Channel U, TV5, Smart Livestream, Indosiar, and Vidio.
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