The Melon Music Awards is a major music awards show that is held annually by Kakao Entertainment through its online music store Melon. The event was initially a fan-voted award conducted entirely online from 2005 through 2008, and has been officially held offline in Seoul since 2009.
Melon is a South Korean online music store and music streaming service introduced in November 2004, and developed by SK Telecom. LOEN Entertainment became the company-in-charge of the service in 2009. In 2017, Kakao merged Kakao Music into Melon to have one, unified music streaming service.
The 2020 Melon Music Awards ceremony, organized by Kakao M through its online music store, Melon, took place virtually from December 2 through December 5, 2020 in South Korea, with the main ceremony taking place on December 5 at 19:00 KST. This is the twelfth ceremony in the show's history, and the first to be held online and over a span of four days. It was held without an audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2021 Melon Music Awards, organized by Kakao M and Melon, took place on December 4, 2021. This was the thirteenth ceremony in the show's history, and the second to be held without an audience in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hosted by comedian Lee Yong-jin and radio announcer Park Seon-young, the ceremony was broadcast online through KakaoTV, Melon, and 1theK's official YouTube channel. Artists who released music between November 11, 2020, and November 7, 2021, were eligible for and honored at the awards.
The Melon Music Award for Album of the Year is an award presented by South Korean entertainment company Kakao M at the annual Melon Music Awards, with its inaugural online ceremony in 2005. Award winners are based on data collected from the Melon music platform and honors artists who have had exceptional performance during the recording year. Since 2009, it has comprised one of the daesang awards given at the event, alongside Song of the Year, Artist of the Year, and later Record of the Year—the latter of which was introduced during the 2018 ceremony.
The Melon Music Award for Song of the Year is one of the awards from the annual Melon Music Awards, an event that uses data from Melon's streaming service to celebrate artists who have had exceptional performance during the year. The Song of the Year category recognizes the top performing single in South Korea based on various metrics such as digital performance, voting, and judge evaluation.
The Melon Music Award for Best New Artist is an award presented annually by Kakao M at the annual Melon Music Awards. It was first given at the ceremony's inaugural online ceremony in 2005, and was given in person for the first time starting from the 2009 awards.
The 2016 Melon Music Awards ceremony, organized by Kakao M through its online music store Melon, took place on Saturday, November 19, 2016, in Seoul, South Korea. The eighth installment of the event since its offline launch in 2009, it was held at the Gocheok Sky Dome for the first time, which is one of the largest indoor concert venues in South Korea.
The 2015 Melon Music Awards were held on Saturday, November 7, 2015, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea. Organized by Kakao M through its online music store Melon, the 2015 ceremony was the seventh installment of the event. The ceremony was hosted by television personality Yoo Byung-jae. Exo and Big Bang led the number of nominations with five each, with BigBang winning four of those awards while Exo won two.
The 2010 Melon Music Awards were held on Wednesday, December 15, 2010, at the Hall of Peace of Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea. Organized by Kakao M through its online music store Melon, the 2010 ceremony was the second installment of the event. The winners for the Top 10 Bonsang Award were announced prior to the ceremony.
The 2011 Melon Music Awards were held on Thursday, November 24, 2011, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea, the event's first use of the venue. Organized by Kakao M through its online music store Melon, the 2011 ceremony was the third installment of the event since its offline launch in 2009. Beast, IU and 2NE1 received the most nominations at the ceremony, have each been nominated five times. The trio along with Super Junior were the only artists who received multiple accolades, with all four artists winning two awards each. Furthermore, the aforementioned trio won the three daesang prizes at the event.
The 2012 Melon Music Awards were held on Friday, December 14, 2012, at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, South Korea. Organized by Kakao M through its online music store Melon, the 2012 ceremony was the event's fourth edition since its offline launch in 2009. The award winners were determined by combining digital sales data and voting conducted by netizens online.
The 2009 Melon Music Awards were held on Wednesday, December 16, 2009, at the Olympic Hall, Olympic Park in Seoul, South Korea. Organized by Kakao M through its online music store Melon, it was the first offline installment of the event in the show's history, having previously been held online since 2005.
