Jennie and Lee Chan-hyuk are leading the nominations for the 2026 Korean Music Awards, emerging as the most recognized artists at this year’s ceremony. Both musicians earned five nominations each for the 23rd edition of the awards.
BLACKPINK’s Jennie continues to expand her solo profile with nominations across several major categories. She is in the running for Musician of the Year, while her breakout solo track “Like Jennie” received nods for Song of the Year and Best K-pop Song. Her debut solo album Ruby also secured nominations for Album of the Year and Best K-pop Album.
Lee Chan-hyuk, best known as one half of sibling duo AKMU, matches Jennie’s total with five nominations of his own. He is nominated for Musician of the Year, while his song “Endangered Love” competes in both Song of the Year and Best K-pop Song categories. His album EROS earned recognition in the Album of the Year and Best K-pop Album fields.
The Korean Music Awards are widely regarded as one of South Korea’s most prestigious music honors, with a strong emphasis on artistic merit, innovation, and critical evaluation rather than commercial performance alone. Unlike fan-voted ceremonies, winners are selected by panels of critics, music journalists, and industry professionals.
The 2026 ceremony will be broadcast live on February 26 through YouTube and Melon.
You can see the complete list of nominees for the 2026 Korean Music Awards below.
Song of the Year
NMIXX – Blue Valentine
Woo Huijin – spacious house
Lee Chanhyuk – Endangered Love
JENNIE – like JENNIE
CHUDAHYE CHAGIS – Heosse!
Album of the Year
Kwon Tree – The Fragrance of Life
Effie – pullup to busan 4 morE hypER summEr it’s gonna bEa fuckin moviE
Woo Huijin – pumping of heart is torturing
Lee Chanhyuk – EROS
JENNIE – Ruby
CHUDAHYE CHAGIS – SOSUMINJOK
Artist of the Year
Effie
NMIXX
Lee Chanhyuk
JENNIE
HANRORO
Best Pop Song
Yerin Baek – MIRROR
Lee Chanhyuk – Endangered Love
Lim Hyunjung – The Road to Me Is Beautiful
Jowall – Your Love as My Pretext (feat. Haepa)
HWASA – Good Goodbye
Best Pop Album
Yerin Baek – Flash and Core
Song Sohee – Re:5
Lee Chanhyuk – EROS
Lim Hyunjung – Extraordinary
Hyelyn Joo – stereo
Best K-Pop Song
Le Sserafim – Spaghetti (feat. j-hope of BTS)
ALLDAY PROJECT – FAMOUS
NMIXX – Blue Valentine
JENNIE – like JENNIE
Hearts2Hearts – FOCUS
Best K-Pop Album
MARK – The Firstfruit – The 1st Album
NMIXX – Blue Valentine
NMIXX – Fe304: FORWARD
JENNIE – Ruby
Chaeyoung (TWICE) – LIL FANTASY vol.1
Rookie of the Year
Gongwon
RAKUNELAMA
ALLDAY PROJECT
Woo Huijun
Peach Truck Hijackers
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