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Hallyu Wiki explainers · Hallyu Wiki editors · Updated 2026-10-23

2026 K-pop award voting guide: MMA closes Oct. 29, MAMA round 2 opens Oct. 28, AAA closes Nov. 4

Voting apps, periods, score weighting and daily vote limits for the five year-end shows with fan voting — MMA2026, the 2026 MAMA AWARDS, 2026 KGMA, AAA 2026 and the Golden Disc Awards — in deadline order. Checked against 19 official notices and press reports as of October 23, 2026. All times are Korea Standard Time.

As of October 23, 2026, fan voting is open for three year-end award shows. MMA2026 TOP10 voting runs on the Melon app and website until October 29 and makes up 20% of the main-award score. AAA 2026 Popularity Award finals run on the IDOLCHAMP app until 11:59 p.m. on November 4, and those awards are decided 100% by fan votes. The 2026 KGMA Special Voting and Global Voting (Domestic) finals on the coogoong app close on October 24.

Round 1 of 2026 MAMA AWARDS Fans' Choice voting closed at 11:59 p.m. on October 22; round 2 runs on Mnet Plus and X from 6 p.m. on October 28 to 11:59 p.m. on November 8, weighted 90% Mnet Plus and 10% X. MMA follows its TOP10 vote with category voting from October 30 to November 13, and KGMA opens live voting for the coogoong Most Popular Artist award from October 26 until the ceremony days. The 41st Golden Disc Awards had not announced popularity-vote dates as of October 23. The table below lists only schedules confirmed by organizer notices or press reports, with a source number on every entry.

Voting period (KST) · statusShow · vote · appRelated pagesWeighting · rules · notes
Oct 12 (Mon) – 24 (Sat) · open2026 KGMA Special Voting and Global Voting (Domestic) finals · coogoong appSpecial Voting covers Trend of the Year (solo male, solo female, group, rookie) and Best Listener's Pick; Global Voting (Domestic) covers the Best Popularity (Domestic) award. Both are decided 100% by the official coogoong vote, with round 1 and the final weighted 50% each. The closing time is not given in the official guide. The ceremony is Nov. 7–8 at Gocheok Sky Dome, Seoul.11,12
Oct 15 (Thu) – 29 (Thu) · openMMA2026 TOP10 vote · MelonThe main TOP10 award combines streaming 60%, judging 20% and votes 20%, from 30 nominees. Paid Melon members get three votes a day and free members one, reset daily at midnight; only identity-verified accounts can vote. The ceremony is Nov. 14–15 at Gocheok Sky Dome, Seoul.1,2,3
Oct 8 (Thu) 10 a.m. – Nov 4 (Wed) 11:59 p.m. · openAAA 2026 Popularity Award finals · IDOLCHAMP appSix categories: male and female actors, male and female groups, and male and female soloists. The top 20 from the preliminary round (Sept. 16–Oct. 6, IDOLCHAMP) advanced, and final results are 30% preliminary and 70% finals. The Popularity Award is 100% fan vote. A pre-vote (Sept. 4–11) ran on the STARPOLL app. The ceremony is Dec. 5–6 at Kaohsiung National Stadium, Taiwan.14,15
Oct 26 (Mon) – Nov 7 (Sat) / Oct 27 (Tue) – Nov 8 (Sun) · upcoming2026 KGMA Live Voting · coogoong appThe coogoong Most Popular Artist award is chosen separately for Artist Day (Nov. 7) and Music Day (Nov. 8). Day 1 voting runs Oct. 26–Nov. 7 and Day 2 voting Oct. 27–Nov. 8, each decided 100% by the official coogoong vote.11
Oct 28 (Wed) 6 p.m. – Nov 8 (Sun) 11:59 p.m. · upcoming2026 MAMA AWARDS Fans' Choice round 2 · Mnet Plus app/web, XMAMA Awards, CJ ENMFans' Choice Male and Female are weighted 90% Mnet Plus and 10% social media (X) in both rounds. On Mnet Plus, each person may vote once a day (Korea time) with one ID on one device, choosing one to three acts in both the male and female categories to complete a vote. Round 1 ran from 7 p.m. Oct. 12 to 11:59 p.m. Oct. 22. The ceremony is Nov. 20–21 at Kyocera Dome Osaka, Japan.5,6,7,19
Oct 30 (Fri) – Nov 13 (Fri) · upcomingMMA2026 category voting · MelonFollows the TOP10 vote. Extra vote rights won in earlier events can be used only by paid members after their basic votes are spent, apply to both TOP10 and category voting, and expire after Nov. 13. Category weighting is not given in the reports checked.1,4
Not announced (last year: Dec 22, 2025 noon – Jan 5, 2026 noon)41st Golden Disc Awards popularity voteGolden Disc AwardsNo dates had been announced as of Oct. 23. For reference, the 40th edition's Golden Disc Upbit Popularity Award voting ran on the PRIZM app from noon Dec. 22, 2025 to noon Jan. 5, 2026, with four votes per person (per account) in each of the male and female categories (eight in all, reset at midnight), and winners were decided 100% by votes. About 48 million votes were cast. The 41st ceremony is Jan. 9–10, 2027 in Hanoi, Vietnam.16,17,18

As of Oct. 23: open, closed and upcoming votes

  • Open: Melon's MMA2026 TOP10 (until Oct. 29), IDOLCHAMP's AAA 2026 Popularity finals (until 11:59 p.m. Nov. 4) and coogoong's 2026 KGMA Special and Global (Domestic) finals (until Oct. 24).1,11,14
  • Closed: MAMA Fans' Choice round 1 (ended 11:59 p.m. Oct. 22), the KGMA Main Voting final and Global Voting (Overseas) final (both ended Oct. 10), and the AAA pre-vote (ended Sept. 11) and preliminary round (ended Oct. 6).6,7,11,14
  • Upcoming: KGMA Live Voting (opens Oct. 26 and 27), MAMA Fans' Choice round 2 (opens 6 p.m. Oct. 28) and MMA2026 category voting (opens Oct. 30). Golden Disc popularity voting has no announced dates.1,6,11
1,6,11,14

MMA2026: three votes a day on Melon for paid members, one for free members; votes are 20% of the main award

Melon, Kakao Entertainment's music platform, runs TOP10 voting for 15 days from October 15 to 29. There are 30 nominees, and the final ten are chosen by combining streaming 60%, judging 20% and fan votes 20%. Paid Melon members can cast three votes a day and free members one, with a new allotment every day at midnight, and only identity-verified accounts can vote, to prevent duplicate voting. Category voting follows from October 30 to November 13. According to Etoday, the new "Global TOP10" combines data from Melon, China's Tencent Music and Japan's LINE MUSIC, weighted 60% chart score, 20% judging and 20% votes.

1,2,3,4

MAMA: fan votes count only for Fans' Choice; round 2 opens 6 p.m. Oct. 28

  • CJ ENM revealed nominees in a nomination broadcast at 6 p.m. on October 12 and opened Fans' Choice round 1 right after it. Voting takes place on Mnet Plus and through hashtag voting on X.8,10
  • Under MAMA's official judging table, Fans' Choice Male and Female are decided by 90% Mnet Plus voting and 10% social-media voting in both rounds. Round 1 ran from 7 p.m. Oct. 12 to 11:59 p.m. Oct. 22; round 2 runs from 6 p.m. Oct. 28 to 11:59 p.m. Nov. 8. Round 1 results determine the round 2 candidates.5,6,7
  • Mnet Plus rules (official round 1 guide): one vote per day (Korea time) with one ID on one device. Each vote picks at least one and at most three acts in both the male and female categories, and both must be filled to complete a vote. Duplicate votes for the same artist are not allowed, and votes cast through abnormal methods or access are not counted.6,7
  • The grand prize Fans' Choice of the Year adds an additional 10% Mnet Plus LIVE VOTE to the 90% Mnet Plus and 10% social-media voting. LIVE VOTE dates had not been announced as of Oct. 23. The judging criteria for the other grand prizes (Artist, Song and Album of the Year), the artist and genre categories, Best Song TOP 10, Best Music Video and Best Choreography include no fan vote.5,9
5,6,7,8,9

KGMA: four strands of voting on the coogoong app

The 2026 KGMA, hosted by Ilgan Sports, opened voting on the coogoong app at 10 a.m. on August 31. According to the official voting guide, voting is split into Main, Global, Special and Live voting. Main voting (Best Music & Artist, Best Adult Contemporary, Best O.S.T and Best Music Video) has finished its round 1 (Aug. 31–Sept. 12) and final (Sept. 28–Oct. 10); the coogoong vote counts for 35%, with judges listed alongside. Within Global voting, the K-Wave Popularity award is open only to fans living overseas (overseas final ended Oct. 10), while the domestic Best Popularity final runs until Oct. 24. Special voting (Trend of the Year and Best Listener's Pick) also runs until Oct. 24; Global and Special awards are decided 100% by the coogoong vote, with round 1 and the final weighted 50% each. The guide does not state a daily vote limit.

11,12,13

AAA 2026: from STARPOLL to IDOLCHAMP, three stages of 100% fan voting

The AAA 2026 Popularity Award, hosted by Star News, runs in three stages. The pre-vote ran on the STARPOLL app from 3:01 p.m. Sept. 4 to 3 p.m. Sept. 11, sending the top 40 in each category to the preliminaries. The preliminaries ran on the IDOLCHAMP app from 10 a.m. Sept. 16 to 11:59 p.m. Oct. 6, and only the top 20 advanced. The finals run on the same app from 10 a.m. Oct. 8 to 11:59 p.m. Nov. 4, with final results combining 30% of the preliminary vote share and 70% of the finals. There are six categories: male and female actors, male and female groups, and male and female soloists. The reports checked do not give a daily vote limit.

14,15

Golden Disc: no dates yet this year; last year's vote opened Dec. 22

The 41st Golden Disc Awards take place on Jan. 9–10, 2027 on an outdoor stage at VEC in Hanoi. Popularity-vote dates had not been announced as of Oct. 23. Last year's 40th edition opened voting on the PRIZM app at noon on Dec. 22, 2025 and closed it at noon on Jan. 5, 2026, ahead of the Jan. 10 ceremony. Nominees were the artists nominated in the digital music, album and rookie categories, and winners were decided 100% by votes. According to Asia Business Daily, about 48 million votes were cast.

16,17,18

How to read this table

Periods and weightings are listed only when confirmed by organizer notices (MAMA's official X account, KGMA's official voting guide, CJ ENM press releases) or press reports of them. All times are Korea Standard Time, the same as Japan time. Items missing from the official notices — such as MMA's category weighting and KGMA's and AAA's daily vote limits — are marked as not given. App rules can change between rounds, so it is worth checking each app's notice before voting. Ceremony dates and venues are covered in "2026 K-pop award show dates," and how the shows' judging differs in "K-pop's year-end awards explained."

5,10,11

Read next

Explainers2026 K-pop award show dates: MAMA Nov. 20 in Osaka, MMA Nov. 14, SBS Gayo Daejeon Dec. 24, Golden Disc Jan. 9Six award shows and year-end music festivals between November 2026 and February 2027 with announced dates and venues, in date order, plus seven not yet announced, each with last year's date for reference. Checked against 22 organizer releases and press reports as of October 18, 2026.ExplainersK-pop's year-end awards explained: who runs MAMA, Golden Disc, MMA and the Seoul Music Awards, and how winners are chosenWho runs each of the four shows and when it began, the names of the grand prizes, how streaming, album sales, judges and fan votes are weighted (with the year each rule applied), what is confirmed about paid voting, the schedule as of October 14, 2026, and the difference between a daesang and a bonsang — from 18 official releases and press reports.

Related articles

MAMA Awards Golden Disc Awards CJ ENM K-pop

Sources

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Cite this page

“2026 K-pop award voting guide: MMA closes Oct. 29, MAMA round 2 opens Oct. 28, AAA closes Nov. 4.” Hallyu Wiki. https://hallyu.wiki/en/guides/kpop-award-voting-2026/ (Retrieved 2026-10-23).

How this article was made: read official statements, court/regulator records and at least two independent outlets; community posts are used only as attention signals. Written by Hallyu Wiki editors with AI assistance — check the sources. Request a correction