Music Bank () is a South Korean music program which airs every Friday at 17:15 KST on KBS2. the show is also broadcast in more than a hundred countries through KBS World. Episodes are filmed at the KBS New Wing Open Hall in Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo District. The show also organizes the global live concert Music Bank World Tour.
History Before Music Bank, Top 10 Songs () debuted in 1981 airing live at 6:30 (KST) on Fridays and airing until 1998. For the first few months of 1998, Bravo New Generation took its place, but due to low ratings, it was quickly replaced by Music Bank on June 18, 1998. The chart format that was used since Top 10 Songs was abandoned in late 2001 due to controversy and was changed into a request format.
In 2005, the show was moved to Sunday afternoons at 12:45 (KST) and became a recorded broadcast. Due to sinking ratings, in September 2007, the show returned to its original time slot of Friday evenings at 6:30 (KST) and returned to a live format. The charts were revived as category-based charts.
In January 2008, the category-based charts were combined into the K-Chart which is the familiar countdown chart and the only program to do so. In June 2008, the show extended to 70 minutes, airing from 6:30 (KST) to 7:40 (KST) making it the longest music program on air. In November 2008, as part of the Autumn format changes, the show began airing from 6:40 (KST) to 8:00 (KST) for 80 minutes. In May 2010, as part of the Spring format changes, the show began airing from 5:50 (KST) to 7:10 (KST) for 80 minutes.
On August 27, 2010, Music Bank began airing live to 54 countries around the world through KBS World, and included new interactive features for international viewers through Twitter. On November 11, 2011, as part of the autumn format changes, the show began airing for 105 minutes from 6:10 (KST) to 7:55 (KST), following KBS News 6. In August 2012, Asian American cable network Myx TV began airing the first English dubbed version of Music Bank. Since October 25, 2013, the show began airing for 80 minutes from 6:30 (KST) to 7:50 (KST), following KBS Global 24, which was transferred from KBS1 with effect from October 21, 2013.
Since February 27, 2026, it has been hosted by Bang Jee-min and Kim Jae-won. Past hosts include Song Hye-kyo, Rain, Ji Sung, Song Joong-ki, Park Seo-joon, Yoon Bora, Irene, Park Bo-gum, Choi Bo-min, Shin Ye-eun, Choi Soo-bin, Arin, Park Sung-hoon, Jang Won-young, Lee Chae-min, Hong Eun-chae, Park Min-ju and Moon Sang-min among others.
K-Chart K-Chart is the countdown chart of Music Bank. The charts are calculated by combining the Digital Music Charts (60%), Album Sales (5%), Number of times broadcast on KBS (20%), K-POP Fan Voting Charts (Mubeat App) (10%), and social media charts (5%). This chart tracks from Monday to Sunday, and the Top 50 songs of the week are featured on the show, where the Top 50–21 songs are shown via marquee and the Top 20–3 songs are featured by the hosts. The hosts showcase the Top Two songs in the beginning of the show and announce who will be the winner of the week. The Number 1 song on the chart is the winner of that week's chart and receives an award.
During the last week of June, the most popular song of the first half of the year is awarded the Music Bank First Half 1st Place award. During the last week of December, the Music Bank 1st Place award (or Music Bank MVP in 2008) is awarded to the most popular song of the entire year.
Before the combined K-Charts, category-based charts were used. From September to December 2007, every week a different category (Digital Music Charts, Karaoke Charts, Viewers Choice Charts, Album Sales Charts) was featured. Technically, each category would only be featured once a month. It was similar to K-Chart except the results each week could only be based on a specific chart, and not all the charts combined. From January 2008 to April 2009, two charts were used. Every week, the Digital Music Charts and Album Sales Charts were used, and at the end of the month were the combined charts (Album Sales Charts (20%) + Digital Music Charts (50%) + Viewers Choice Charts (30%)). In May 2009, this was abandoned for the combined charts featured every week. Note that the Music Bank ranking system is different from other previous and current televised K-Pop music shows, in that an artist can win an unlimited number of times for the same song (other shows generally remove it from the charts after three wins, for Music Core it's after five wins or two months since release). While other music chart shows have a full score of 10,000 or 11,000, Music Bank's full score is 200,000, meaning Digital Music Charts category has 120,000 score as full score, 40,000 for Broadcast, 20,000 for K-POP Fan Voting Charts (Mubeat App) 10,000 for Album Sales, and finally 10,000 from Social Media. The new criteria for Music Bank took effect in the January 6, 2023 episode, where the Digital Music Chart percentage decreased from 65% to 60%, the Album Sales are will now be acquired from Gaon instead of the previous Hanteo chart, the KBS Broadcast Plays now added its digital channel in the aggregation scoring alongside its TV and radio channels, and the Social Media Charts will be sourced from the YouTube and TikTok data gathered from the Gaon charts.
Winners
Hosts
Date Hosts 1998 Ryu Si-won, Kim Ji-ho 1999 Ryu Si-won, Hwang Yu-sun Kim Seung-hyun, Hwang Yu-sun Joo Young-hoon, Hwang Yu-sun 2000 Joo Young-hoon, Kim Gyu-ri Lee Hwi-jae, Song Hye-kyo Lee Hwi-jae, Lee Na-young 2001 Lee Hwi-jae, Kim Bo-kyung November 8, 2001 – April 18, 2002 Lee Hwi-jae, Kim Gyu-ri April 25 – October 24, 2002 Lee Hwi-jae, Kim Min-jung October 31, 2002 – January 30, 2003 Rain, Shoo February 6 – June 19, 2003 Jun Jin, Shoo June 26, 2003 – June 11, 2004 Choi Jung-won, Park Jung-ah June 18 – November 5, 2004 Ji Sung, Park Eun-hye November 12, 2004 – April 29, 2005 Namkoong Min, So Yi-hyun May 8 – October 30, 2005 Ji Hyun-woo, Kim Bo-min November 6, 2005 – March 12, 2006 Kang Kyung-joon, Park Kyung-lim March 26 – November 19, 2006 Kang Kyung-joon, Jang Hee-jin November 26, 2006 – April 1, 2007 Haha, Lee So-yeon April 8, 2007 – February 1, 2008 Haha, Lee Hyun-ji February 15 – May 16, 2008 Tablo, Kim Sung-eun May 23 – August 8, 2008 Tablo, Min Seo-hyun August 29, 2008 – January 9, 2009 Yoo Se-yoon, Seo In-young January 16 – July 31, 2009 Yoo Se-yoon, Park Eun-young August 7, 2009 – November 19, 2010 Song Joong-ki, Seo Hyo-rim December 3, 2010 – October 21, 2011 Hyun Woo, Kim Min-ji October 28, 2011 – November 11, 2011 Hyun Woo, Uee November 18, 2011 Tim, Sohee, Sunye November 25, 2011 Shindong, Sohee, Sunye December 2, 2011 Minho, Sohee, Yubin December 9, 2011 Minho, Sohee, Sunye December 16, 2011 Shindong, Sohee, Yubin December 23, 2011 Jung Yong-hwa, Choi Siwon, Yoon Doo-joon, Jun Hyun-moo January 6, 2012 – March 29, 2013 Lee Jang-woo, Uee April 5, 2013 Lee Jang-woo, Kang Min-kyung April 12, 2013 – October 4, 2013 Jeong Jinwoon, Park Se-young September 6, 2013 Jo Kwon, Park Se-young October 11, 2013 Seulong, Park Se-young October 18, 2013 Jo Kwon October 25, 2013 – April 24, 2015 Park Seo-joon, Yoon Bora May 1, 2015 – June 24, 2016 Park Bo-gum, Irene December 4, 2015 Park Bo-gum, V, Him-chan July 1, 2016 – November 4, 2016 Kang Min-hyuk, Solbin July 15, 2016 Kang Min-hyuk, Solbin, Son Dong-woon November 11, 2016 – May 11, 2018 Lee Seo-won, Solbin May 18, 2018 Solbin, N May 25, 2018 Solbin, Son Dong-woon June 1, 2018 Solbin, Taemin June 8, 2018 Solbin, Jin June 15, 2018 – June 28, 2019 Kei, Choi Won-myeong July 5, 2019 – July 17, 2020 Shin Ye-eun, Choi Bo-min July 24, 2020 – October 1, 2021 Arin, Choi Soo-bin October 8, 2021 – September 2, 2022 Jang Won-young, Park Sung-hoon November 19, 2021 Jang Won-young, Park Sung-hoon and Huening Kai February 4, 2022 Jang Won-young and Yang Jung-won August 5, 2022 Park Ji-hu and Park Sung-hoon September 16, 2022 Jang Won-young and Lee Ju-yeon September 23, 2022 Jang Won-young and Lee Young-ji September 30, 2022 – January 13, 2023 Jang Won-young and Lee Chae-min October 14, 2022 Kang Seul-gi and Lee Chae-min December 2, 2022 Shin Yu-na and Lee Chae-min January 6, 2023 Haewon and Lee Chae-min January 20, 2023 – January 27, 2023 Minji and Lee Chae-min February 3, 2023 Mimi and Lee Chae-min February 10, 2023 – May 3, 2024 Hong Eun-chae and Lee Chae-min March 24, 2023 Dahyun and Lee Chae-min August 25, 2023 Hanni and Lee Chae-min September 1, 2023 Arin and Lee Chae-min September 8, 2023 Kim Se-jeong and Lee Chae-min October 27, 2023 Choi Soo-bin and Lee Chae-min November 3, 2023 Umji and Lee Chae-min January 5, 2024 Kwon Eun-bi and Lee Chae-min January 19, 2024 Hyein and Lee Chae-min February 2, 2024 Huh Yunjin and Lee Chae-min April 5, 2024 Noh Yun-ah and Lee Chae-min April 12, 2024 Park Min-ju and Lee Chae-min May 10, 2024 Hong Eun-chae and Lee Hyun-jae May 17, 2024 Hong Eun-chae and Kim Tae-rae May 24, 2024 Hong Eun-chae, Zhang Hao and Jo May 31, 2024 – September 27, 2024 Hong Eun-chae and Moon Sang-min June 28, 2024 Hong Eun-chae, Shinyu and Choi Young-jae September 6, 2024 Hong Eun-chae, Kim Tae-rae and Zhang Hao October 4, 2024 – January 30, 2026 Park Min-ju and Moon Sang-min November 22, 2024 Jaemin, Yunho and Moon Sang-min March 7, 2025 Haewon and Moon Sang-min April 4, 2025 Park Min-ju, Hyunjun and Junpyo May 16, 2025 Park Min-ju and Shinyu June 13, 2025 Park Min-ju and Shin Yu-na July 11, 2025 Park Min-ju and Lee Won-hee August 8, 2025 Park Min-ju, Choi Soo-bin and Huening Kai August 22, 2025 Park Min-ju, Sui and Kya August 28, 2025 Park Min-ju and Rei September 5, 2025 Karina and Moon Sang-min September 12, 2025 Kim Ji-woong and Moon Sang-min October 24, 2025 Park Min-ju and Lee Chan-won February 6, 2026 Leo and Kim Jun-seo February 13, 2026 Sui and Kya February 27, 2026 - Present Bang Jee-min and Kim Jae-won
Achievements by artists
+ Most No. 1 winners Rank Artist Count 1st BTS 51 2nd Girls' Generation 42 3rd Exo 37 4th Twice 30 5th IU 27 6th Big Bang 22 7th Seventeen 21 8th Super Junior 20 9th Psy18 Shinee Beast/Highlight
+ Longest consecutive No. 1 songs Rank Artist Song Count Year 1st Psy "Gangnam Style" 10 2012 2nd Girls' Generation "Gee" 9 2009 3rd Girls' Generation "The Boys" 6 2011 IU "You & I" 2011–2012 BTS "Dynamite" 2020 6th G-Dragon "Heartbreaker" 5 2009 2NE1 "I Don't Care" 2009 Girls' Generation "Oh!" 2010 "Hoot" Super Junior "Mr. Simple" 2011 Twice "TT" 2016
+ Songs with most awards Rank Artist Song Count Year 1st Psy "Gangnam Style" 17 2012–2013 2nd BTS "Dynamite" 16 2020–2021 3rd Girls' Generation "Gee" 11 2009 4th Girls' Generation "Oh!" 7 2010 BTS "Boy with Luv" 2019 6th Girls' Generation "The Boys" 6 2011 IU "You & I" 2011–2012 Twice "TT" 2016–2017 9th Super Junior "Sorry, Sorry" 5 2009 2NE1 "I Don't Care" G-Dragon "Heartbreaker" Girls' Generation "Hoot" 2010 Super Junior "Mr. Simple" 2011 Soyou & Junggigo "Some" 2014 Twice "Cheer Up" 2016
Top 10 highest scores (20th system) February 25, 2022 – December 30, 2022
Scoring system: digital music charts (60%), number of times broadcast on KBS (20%), viewers choice charts (10%), album sales (5%) and social media charts (5%) Rank Artist Song Score Date 1st Seventeen "Hot" 13,816 2022/06/04 2nd TXT "Good Boy Gone Bad" 12,610 2022/05/20 3rd (G)I-dle "Nxde" 12,541 2022/10/28 4th Ive "After Like" 12,174 2022/09/02 5th "Love Dive" 12,095 2022/04/15 6th "After Like" 11,406 2022/09/09 7th Stray Kids "Case 143" 11,168 2022/10/14 8th NewJeans "Attention" 11,150 2022/08/19 9th The Boyz "Whisper" 11,097 2022/08/26 10th NCT Dream "Beatbox" 11,069 2022/06/10
Top 10 highest scores (current system) January 6, 2023 – present
Scoring system: digital music charts (60%), number of times broadcast on KBS (20%), K-pop fan vote (10%), album sales (5%) and social media charts (5%)