BIGBANG and BTS Lead 2026 MAMA Nomination Tallies as First 12 Performers Are Announced

Eight nominations for BIGBANG and its members, seven for BTS

BIGBANG and its members have eight nominations across the announced categories for the 2026 MAMA Awards, ahead of seven for BTS and J-Hope combined. The nominations, unveiled on October 12, were followed a day later by the first performance lineup: 12 acts scheduled across November 20 and 21 at Kyocera Dome Osaka in Japan.

The distinction between group and individual nominations matters. BTS has five nominations in its own name, compared with four for BIGBANG. BIGBANG moves ahead when three nominations for Taeyang and one for G-Dragon are included, while J-Hope contributes two through his appearance on LE SSERAFIM's "SPAGHETTI." These headline totals do not include the separate Fans' Choice nomination lists.

BTS is competing for Artist of the Year, Best Male Group and Album of the Year for ARIRANG. Its other nominations are Best Vocal Performance Group for "SWIM" and Best Music Video for "2.0." BIGBANG is nominated for Artist of the Year and Best Male Group, with "BiiiG" competing for Best Music Video and Best Dance Performance Male Group.

One detail in the reporting needs qualification. An account of BIGBANG's eight nominations also mentions solo recognition for Daesung, but the published category lists identify no nomination for him. The eight can be accounted for entirely by BIGBANG's four, Taeyang's three and G-Dragon's one. A Daesung nomination therefore cannot be established from the announced lists.

The ceremony will stream worldwide through CJ ENM's Mnet Plus platform. First round fan voting opened with the nominations, while Song of the Year contenders have yet to be announced. That makes this a substantial picture of the competition, but not yet a complete one.

Solo projects reshape the leading totals

Taeyang is nominated for Best Male Artist and Artist of the Year, as well as Best Dance Performance Male Solo for "LIVE FAST DIE SLOW." G-Dragon's nomination comes through his feature on aespa's "WDA (Whole Different Animal)," which is competing for Best Collaboration.

BIGBANG's showing arrives during its 20th anniversary year and follows G-Dragon's Artist of the Year victory at the 2025 ceremony. His current collaboration nomination should not be confused with an individual nomination in this year's Artist of the Year field. Taeyang, rather than G-Dragon, is the BIGBANG member listed separately in that category.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER and Yeonjun have six nominations combined. The group is competing for Best Male Group, Artist of the Year and Album of the Year with 7TH YEAR: A Moment of Stillness in the Thorns. Yeonjun has nominations for Best Male Artist, Artist of the Year and Best Dance Performance Male Solo for "Ice Cream."

The Best Male Artist field places Taeyang and Yeonjun alongside Doh Kyung Soo, also known as D.O. of EXO, Taeyong of NCT and Young K of DAY6. Taeyong also appears in the male solo dance category with "WYLD," where ONEW's "TOUGH LOVE" and Taemin's "FLOAT" complete the five nominees.

A crowded field extends beyond the leaders

Seven acts reach five nominations each under the same counting approach: MAMAMOO, including four for Hwasa, aespa, ATEEZ, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT and CORTIS. Their nominations cover different combinations of artist, album, collaboration and performance categories, rather than a single shared route to recognition.

Hwasa's four nominations are Best Female Artist, Artist of the Year, Best Vocal Performance Solo and Best Music Video, with the latter two recognizing "Good Goodbye." MAMAMOO adds Best Vocal Performance Group for "4 Flowers." In Best Female Artist, Hwasa faces Irene of Red Velvet, Soyeon of i-dle, Taeyeon of Girls' Generation and YENA.

Best Male Group has eight contenders: ATEEZ, BIGBANG, BTS, CORTIS, ENHYPEN, NCT WISH, Stray Kids and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. Best Female Group also has eight: aespa, BABYMONSTER, BLACKPINK, Hearts2Hearts, ILLIT, IVE, LE SSERAFIM and NMIXX.

The Artist of the Year list contains 36 names because nominees in the artist categories are automatically included. Its breadth can be traced directly to five male soloists, five female soloists, eight male groups, eight female groups and 10 new artists. A place in this field therefore reflects qualification through another artist category, rather than a separate shortlist of only the acts with the most nominations.

The 10 Best New Artist nominees are ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE, EVAN, H//PE Princess, hrtz.wav, LNGSHOT, MODYSSEY, OURBIRTHDAY, TUIDE and UNCHILD. CORTIS, which was a Best New Artist nominee last year, now competes in the male group, artist, album, choreography and male group dance categories.

Album of the Year has a million copy threshold

Album of the Year has 18 nominees, with eligibility restricted to albums that sold more than one million copies. That is a stated entry condition, not a published sales ranking: the nomination list does not provide individual sales totals or establish which album sold the most.

BTS's ARIRANG and TOMORROW X TOGETHER's 7TH YEAR: A Moment of Stillness in the Thorns are joined by &TEAM's Mark on Me, aespa's LEMONADE, ALPHA DRIVE ONE's EUPHORIA, ATEEZ's GOLDEN HOUR : Part.5, BLACKPINK's DEADLINE and BOYNEXTDOOR's The Action.

The remaining nominees are CORTIS's GREENGREEN, ENHYPEN's THE SIN : VANISH, EXO's REVERXE, IVE's REVIVE+, NCT DREAM's Beat It Up, NCT WISH's Ode to Love, PLAVE's Caligo Pt.2, RIIZE's II, Stray Kids' THIS &THAT and TWS's NO TRAGEDY.

BIGBANG is absent from this category despite leading the combined group and member tally. BTS, by contrast, appears in both Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. That difference illustrates why the largest nomination total does not necessarily mean the widest presence across the major awards.

Last year's Album of the Year winner was Stray Kids' KARMA. The group returns to the category with THIS &THAT, while "This & That" also has a nomination for Best Dance Performance Male Group.

Collaborations and choreography connect the contenders

LE SSERAFIM occupies two of the five Best Collaboration slots, or 40 percent of the category. One is for "SPAGHETTI" with J-Hope; the other is for "ICONIC BY MISTAKE," credited jointly to LE SSERAFIM, ILLIT and KATSEYE.

The other collaboration nominees are aespa's "WDA (Whole Different Animal)" featuring G-Dragon, Dayoung of WJSN and Jay Park's "FLIRTY," and Parc Jae Jung and Sullyoon of NMIXX's "Always." Because these entries recognize shared recordings, one nominated song can contribute to the tallies of more than one act.

Several songs also recur across Best Choreography and the dance performance categories. ATEEZ's "BAD" and CORTIS's "REDRED" are nominated for both choreography and male group dance performance. ILLIT's "It's Me" and IVE's "BANG BANG" appear in choreography and female group dance performance, while YENA's "Catch Catch" appears in choreography and female solo dance performance.

The remaining male group dance contenders are BIGBANG's "BiiiG," BOYNEXTDOOR's "Hollywood Action," RIIZE's "Do your dance," Stray Kids' "This & That," TWS's "OVERDRIVE" and ZEROBASEONE's "TOP 5."

In the female group dance category, aespa's "LEMONADE," Hearts2Hearts' "RUDE!," I.O.I's "Suddenly," KiiiKiii's "404 (New Era)," LE SSERAFIM's "SPAGHETTI" and NMIXX's "Blue Valentine" join ILLIT and IVE. The female solo category pairs YENA with BIBI's "BUMPA," Dayoung's "What's a girl to do," Soyeon's "I'm gonna TOESA" and Yuna of ITZY's "Ice Cream."

Vocals, videos, bands and soundtracks widen the competition

BTS's "SWIM" faces AKMU's "Paradise of Rumors," Davichi's "TIME CAPSULE," DxS of SEVENTEEN's "Blue" and MAMAMOO's "4 Flowers" in Best Vocal Performance Group. The solo vocal category brings together Hwasa's "Good Goodbye," IU's "Unknown Planet," Jennie's "Less than a Lover," Roy Kim's "No Words Can Say" and WOODZ's "CINEMA."

Best Music Video puts BIGBANG's "BiiiG" and BTS's "2.0" against Hwasa's "Good Goodbye," i-dle's "Mono (Feat. skaiwater)" and MEOVV's "DDI RO RI." BTS and BIGBANG consequently meet directly in three announced categories: Artist of the Year, Best Male Group and Best Music Video.

Best Band Performance has a separate five act field: Silica Gel with "BIG VOID," JANNABI with "Just Kids," LUCY with "All Ages," QWER with "CEREMONY" and Xdinary Heroes with "Voyager." Best Rap & Hip Hop Performance features BIG Naughty's "Nostalgia," HAON's "Yarrr," NOWIMYOUNG's "KOLOK COLOK," TREASURE's "IF I" and ZICO and Lilas of YOASOBI's "DUET."

The original soundtrack category recognizes music associated with screen productions. Its nominees are Kim Min Seok of MeloMance's "Love Language" from Can This Love Be Translated?, Migak Boys' "My Flavor" from The Legend of Kitchen Soldier, Sung Si Kyung's "Anytime anyhow" from Surely Tomorrow, Suzy's "A Day" from EXchange 4 and Young K's "Season of Us" from My Royal Nemesis.

Fan voting is open, but Song of the Year is pending

The Fans' Choice lists contain 50 male and 50 female entries, giving voters 100 listed choices across the two fields. BTS, BIGBANG, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, ENHYPEN and Stray Kids are among the male nominees. The female list includes aespa, BLACKPINK, ILLIT, IVE, LE SSERAFIM, MAMAMOO and TWICE, alongside other groups and individual performers.

These lists are distinct from the artist and performance nominations used in the headline tallies. Counting every Fans' Choice appearance alongside those categories would change the totals, so comparisons need to use the same definition throughout.

ENHYPEN won Fans' Choice of the Year at the 2025 ceremony. The other major winners included G-Dragon for Artist of the Year, Stray Kids' KARMA for Album of the Year and ROSÉ and Bruno Mars' "APT." for Song of the Year.

For 2026, a "Best Song Top 10" will be revealed later as the Song of the Year nominees. No release date for that list is specified. The first voting round has begun, but its closing date and any subsequent voting deadlines are not established in the announcements described here.

The first performance lineup covers both nights

CJ ENM announced the first performers on October 13, naming six male groups, five female groups and one solo artist. Seven acts are assigned to the opening night and five to the second.

• Chapter 1, November 20: ALPHA DRIVE ONE, BABYMONSTER, ENHYPEN, ILLIT, INI, NCT WISH and RESCENE.
• Chapter 2, November 21: CORTIS, KiiiKiii, LE SSERAFIM, TWICE's Nayeon and ZEROBASEONE.

The announcement creates several links between the awards race and the stage schedule. ALPHA DRIVE ONE is nominated for Best New Artist and Album of the Year, while CORTIS, ENHYPEN, ILLIT, LE SSERAFIM and NCT WISH all appear in multiple award categories.

BTS, BIGBANG and TOMORROW X TOGETHER are not part of this first performance announcement. That does not establish whether they will attend or perform, since the list is explicitly the first lineup rather than the complete program. No date for the next performer announcement is given.

Osaka preparations begin before the ceremony

The Visa sponsored ceremony will return to Kyocera Dome Osaka for the third time, following editions held there in 2022 and 2024. Its 2026 theme is presented as A Music Interstellar, a concept CJ ENM describes in terms of music connecting audiences across time and space.

A MAMA FAN FESTA is scheduled to begin on November 9, ahead of the awards. Announced plans include food, activities and opportunities to win ceremony tickets and red carpet access. Further details are expected in the coming weeks, but the announcements do not settle the full program or participation arrangements.

The eligibility period and event schedule establish the following sequence:

• October 1, 2025 to September 30, 2026: eligible music release period.
• October 12, 2026: nominations announced and first round fan voting opened.
• October 13, 2026: the first 12 performing acts announced.
• November 9, 2026: MAMA FAN FESTA begins.
• November 20 and 21, 2026: awards ceremony at Kyocera Dome Osaka, with worldwide streaming through Mnet Plus.

The next substantive additions will be the Song of the Year shortlist, further performers and fuller fan event details. Until those are announced, the confirmed picture is a broad awards contest led in combined nomination totals by BIGBANG and its members, with BTS holding more nominations as a group.

Key Points

• BIGBANG has four group nominations and four more through Taeyang and G-Dragon. BTS has five group nominations, with two more through J-Hope.
• TOMORROW X TOGETHER and Yeonjun have six nominations combined.
• Artist of the Year has 36 nominees; Album of the Year has 18 and requires sales above one million copies.
• LE SSERAFIM appears in two of the five Best Collaboration entries.
• The first performance lineup names 12 acts across November 20 and 21.
• Fan voting has begun, while Song of the Year nominees and further performers are still to be announced.
• The ceremony takes place at Kyocera Dome Osaka and will stream worldwide through Mnet Plus.