The 2024 Korean Music Awards have come to a close with NewJeans, KISS OF LIFE and more bagging some of the biggest awards of the night – read on to view the full list of winners below.
The 2024 Korean Music Awards (KMAs) were held last night (February 29), and was livestreamed on The Prizm Entertainment’s website at around 8pm KST. Established in 2004, the KMAs has a legacy of recognising Korean music beyond mainstream K-pop, with categories that include indie, rock, metal, folk, dance, hip-hop, R&B and more.
Awards from the KMAs are distributed based on recommendations made by a panel of judges, consisting of music critics, radio producers, academics and other music industry professionals. The Korean Music Awards notably do not use sales as a metric for their awards.
Out of 25 awards, the KMAs present three Daesangs (Grand Prizes) every year for Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Musician of the Year. The winners of these trophies span across genres, with hip-hop artist Beenzino taking home this year’s Album of the Year prize for ‘Nowitzki’.
Meanwhile, Korean rock outfit Silica Gel were awarded Musician of the Year, while K-pop titans NewJeans took home the award for Song of the Year for ‘Ditto’. The five-piece and Silica Gel both emerged as the biggest winners of the night, with each act receiving three accolades in total.
While the winners for the 2024 KMAs are largely dominated by alternative acts, there are several K-pop acts that brought home trophies last night, such as AKMU, KISS OF LIFE and more. Most notably, KISS OF LIFE have become the third idol group to win Rookie of the Year following aespa and NewJeans.
See the full list of 2024 Korean Music Awards winners below:
Album of the Year
Beenzino for ‘Nowitzki’
Song of the Year
NewJeans for ‘Ditto’
Musician of the Year
Silica Gel
Rookie of the Year
KISS OF LIFE
Best Pop Album
Lee Jin-ah for ‘Hearts of the City’
Best Pop Song
AKMU for ‘Love Lee’
Best K-Pop Album
NewJeans for ‘Get Up’
Best K-Pop Song
NewJeans for ‘Ditto’
Best Electronic Song
CIFIKA for ‘Hush’
Best Electronic Album
Yetsuby for ‘My Star My Planet My Earth’
Best R&B & Soul Song
youra for ‘(Motif)’
Best R&B & Soul Album
jerd for ‘BOMM’
Best Rap & Hiphop Song
E SENS for ‘What The Hell’
Best Rap & Hiphop Album
Beenzino for ‘Nowitzki’
Best Rock Song
Seoul Electric Band for ‘Ghost Writers’
Best Rock Album
OVerdrive Philosophy for ’64 see me’
Best Modern Rock Song
Silica Gel for ‘Tik Tak Tok (Feat. So!YoON!)’
Best Modern Rock Album
Silica Gel for ‘Machine Boy’
Best Metal & Hardcore Album
Mahatma for ‘REASON FOR SILENCE’
Best Folk Song
Yeoyu and Seolbin for ‘Like the Stars in the Night Sky’
Best Folk Album
Yeoyu and Seolbin for ‘COMEDY’
Best Jazz Vocal Album
YUJIN KIM for ‘Extraordinary’
Best Jazz Performance Album
Soojung Lee for ‘Four Seasons’
Special Merit Award
Kang Tae-hwan
Committee Special Award
Hakchon Theatre