NCT’s Mark, SEVENTEEN, aespa, ENHYPEN, PLAVE, Jang Min-ho, and BTS’s V and Jimin were confirmed as winners on the second day of the ‘2025 Korea Grand Music Awards with iMBank’ (2025 KGMA) — announced just before the Music Day ceremony on the 15th.
The KGMA Organizing Committee pre-released part of the final list, including results for Best Music 10, Best Virtual Artist, Best Streaming Song, Best Selling Album, Best Global K-Pop Star, Best Trot Stage, Best Dance Performance, Best Listener’s Pick, Fan Favorite Artist, and Trend of the Year. (Some awards were highlighted early for fans and media.)
About the KGMA
The KGMA is described as a K-Pop festival launched last year by Ilgan Sports (Edaily M) for its 55th anniversary. The event aims to recognize artists and works that earned strong domestic and global popularity, offering what’s said to be differentiated content.
The 2025 KGMA is co-hosted by the KGMA Organizing Committee, Creatorling, and DoD, with support from Incheon Metropolitan City and the Incheon Tourism Organization. iM Bank is the title sponsor — and partners include Pizza Etang, Label Corporation, and Hollys.
Broadcast details were also released: KT ENA serves as the main broadcaster. The event streams worldwide through TikTok Live (except Japan and China), and in Japan it’s watched in real time via Hulu Japan.
Best Music 10 Winners
Mark, SEVENTEEN, aespa, and ENHYPEN were recognized in the Best Music 10 category.
- Mark dropped his first solo album ‘The Firstfruit’ in April. The album ranked No.1 on both the Hanteo Chart and the Circle Chart retail album chart. It topped the iTunes Top Album chart in 14 global regions. The title track ‘1999’ fueled a ‘Hip-let’ (Hip-hop + Ballet) challenge trend, dominating domestic rankings — kinda everywhere.
- SEVENTEEN celebrated their 10th anniversary with the 5th full album ‘HAPPY BURSTDAY’ in May, which became a double-million seller on day one, moving 2 million copies. It placed No.2 on the Billboard 200, hit No.1 on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart, and Japan’s Oricon Daily Album Ranking. They also secured Diamond Album certification after topping China’s QQ Music Digital Best-Selling Album chart.
- aespa released the 6th mini-album ‘Rich Man’ in September — reaching No.1 on the iTunes Top Album chart in 14 countries. In China, it earned Platinum certification (over 1 million yuan sales) while topping the QQ Music overall and EP Digital Album charts, plus No.1 on KuGou Music Digital Album Sales and Tencent Music K-Pop Chart.
- ENHYPEN’s 6th mini-album ‘DESIRE : UNLEASH’ debuted at No.3 on the Billboard 200 (chart dated June 21), marking the group’s fifth consecutive Top-10 entry — and eighth total appearance on the Billboard 200. They also posted their highest Japanese sales ever, ranking No.1 on the Oricon weekly album chart.
| Award Category | Winner(s) | Song/Album/Note |
| Best Virtual Artist | PLAVE | 5-member virtual idol group; achieved a million-seller with their 3rd mini-album. |
| Best Streaming Song | aespa | ‘Whiplash’ (Title track of the 5th mini-album); EDM-based techno track. |
| Best Selling Album | Stray Kids | ‘KARMA’ (4th full-length album); Debuted at 1st on the ‘Billboard 200,’ their 7th consecutive album to top the chart. |
| Best Global K-Pop Star | IVE | Praised as the ‘MZ Icon’ for their self-confidence team identity. |
| Best Trot Stage | Jang Min-ho | Achieved his fourth first-week sales (Chodong) record of 100,000 copies with his new mini-album ‘Analog Volume 1’. |
| Best Dance Performance | AHNOUP (아홉) | – |
| Best Listener’s Pick | UNIS (유니스) | – |
| Fan Favorite Artist | Jimin (Male), (G)I-DLE’s Yuqi (Female) | Selected by fan votes. |
| Trend of the Year | V (K-Pop Solo), Hearts to Hearts’ Carmen (Rookie) | Selected through global fan voting, based on the accumulated results of ‘Trend of the Month’ awards. |
