# MAMA Awards

The MAMA Awards (Korean: 마마 어워즈, formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ ENM. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes have been won by K-pop artists, although there are other Asian artists winning in various award categories, such as for Best Asian Artist and other professional-related awards.
The awards ceremony was first held in Seoul in 1999, being aired on Mnet. MAMA has also been held in various Asian countries and cities outside of South Korea since 2010 and now airs internationally online beyond Asia.

## History
### Ceremony

The event was launched in 1999 as a music video awards ceremony, modeled after the MTV Video Music Awards, called the Mnet Music Video Festival. It merged with the KMTV Korean Music Awards in 2004 and was renamed the Mnet KM Music Video Festival. By the mid-2000s, the awards ceremony had attracted some international interest due to the spread of Hallyu, and it aired in China and Japan in 2008.
In 2009, the event was renamed the Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) to reflect its expansion outside of South Korea. In 2010, MAMA was held in Macau, marking the first time it was held outside of South Korea. The following year, in 2011, MAMA was held in Singapore, and was then held in Hong Kong from 2012 to 2017. In 2017, the awards ceremony was expanded to four nights, and parts of the event were held in Vietnam and Japan, in addition to Hong Kong. In 2018, MAMA had three parts and was held in three countries; South Korea hosted the MAMA for the first time in nine years, together with Japan and Hong Kong. In 2020, MAMA was held online only and took place in South Korea only due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 20, 2021, it was reported by Ilgan Sports that the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards was undergoing discussion for the event to be held in Hong Kong despite the ongoing pandemic and travel restrictions. On August 23, 2022, CJ E&M announced that the event would be rebranded as simply the "MAMA Awards" going forward.

### Event name

* Mnet Video Music Awards (1999)
* Mnet Music Video Festival (2000–2003)
* Mnet KM Music Video Festival (2004–2005)
* Mnet KM Music Festival (2006–2008)
* Mnet Asian Music Awards (2009–2021)
* MAMA Awards (2022–present)

## Host venues

| Year | Date | City | Venue | Host(s) |
| Mnet Video Music Awards |||||
| 1999 | November 27 | Seoul | Universal Arts Center | Choi Hal-li |
| Mnet Music Video Festival (MMF) |||||
| 2000 | November 24 | Seoul | Universal Arts Center | Cha Tae-hyun and Kim Hyun-joo |
| 2001 | November 23 | Seoul | Universal Arts Center | Cha Tae-hyun and Song Hye-kyo |
| 2002 | November 29 | Seoul | Universal Arts Center | Shin Dong-yup and Kim Jung-eun |
| 2003 | November 27 | Seoul | Kyung Hee University | Cha Tae-hyun and Sung Yu-ri |
| Mnet KM Music Video Festival (MKMF) |||||
| 2004 | December 4 | Seoul | Kyung Hee University | Shin Dong-yup and Kim Jung-eun |
| 2005 | November 27 | Seoul | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Shin Dong-yup and Kim Ah-joong |
| Mnet KM Music Festival (MKMF) |||||
| 2006 | November 25 | Seoul | Olympic Gymnastics Arena | Shin Dong-yup and Kim Ok-bin |
| 2007 | November 17 | Seoul | Seoul Sports Complex | Shin Dong-yup and Lee Da-hae |
| 2008 | November 15 | Seoul | Seoul Sports Complex | Rain |
| Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA) |||||
| 2009 | November 21 | Seoul | Seoul Sports Complex | Tiger JK |
| 2010 | November 28 | Macau | Cotai Arena, The Venetian Macao | None |
| 2011 | November 29 | Singapore | Singapore Indoor Stadium | Lee Byung-hun |
| 2012 | November 30 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre | Song Joong-ki |
| 2013 | November 22 | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld–Arena | Lee Seung-gi |
| 2014 | December 3 | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld–Arena | Song Seung-heon |
| 2015 | December 2 | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld–Arena | Psy |
| 2016 | December 2 | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld–Arena | Lee Byung-hun |
| 2017 | November 25 | Ho Chi Minh City | Hoa Binh Theatre | Thu Minh |
| 2017 | November 29 | Yokohama | Yokohama Arena | Park Bo-gum |
| 2017 | November 30 | Hong Kong | W Hong Kong | None |
| 2017 | December 1 | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld–Arena | Song Joong-ki |
| 2018 | December 10 | Seoul | Dongdaemun Design Plaza | Jung Hae-in |
| 2018 | December 12 | Saitama | Saitama Super Arena | Park Bo-gum |
| 2018 | December 14 | Hong Kong | AsiaWorld-Arena | Song Joong-ki |
| 2019 | December 4 | Nagoya | Nagoya Dome | Park Bo-gum |
| 2020 | December 6 | Paju | CJ E&M Contents World | Song Joong-ki |
| 2021 | December 11 | Paju | CJ E&M Contents World | Lee Hyori |
| MAMA Awards |||||
| 2022 | November 29–30 | Osaka | Kyocera Dome | Jeon Somi and Park Bo-gum |
| 2023 | November 28–29 | Tokyo | Tokyo Dome | Jeon Somi and Park Bo-gum |
| 2024 | November 21 | Los Angeles | Dolby Theatre | Park Bo-gum |
| 2024 | November 22 | Osaka | Kyocera Dome | Karina, Sung Han-bin, Rei, Yoshi |
| 2024 | November 23 | Osaka | Kyocera Dome | Kim Tae-ri |

## Award categories
### Grand prizes

The four grand prizes (known as daesang):
* Artist of the Year
* Album of the Year
* Song of the Year
* Worldwide Icon of the Year (since 2018)

### Competitive awards

Unless otherwise noted, each award category was introduced in 1999.
* Best Male Artist
* Best Female Artist
* Best Male Group (since 2000, was known as Best Group in 1999)
* Best Female Group (since 2000)
* Best New Artist
* Best Dance Performance
* Best Band Performance
* Best Rap Performance
* Best Vocal Performance (since 2010)
* Best Collaboration (2010, 2012, 2014–2017, 2019–present)
* Best OST (2004–2006, 2008–2009, 2011–2014, 2016–present)
* Best Music Video (since 2006)
* Best Unit (2018)

### Special awards

These awards have been given once or occasionally.
* Best International Artist (1999–2006, 2009–2010, 2012–2014, 2019, 2021)
* Best Asian Artist (since 2004)
* Other special awards

### Discontinued awards

* Music Video of the Year (1999–2005) (former daesang award and currently Best Music Video since 2006)
* Best Popular Music Video (1999–2005) (former daesang award)
* Best Music Video Performance (2005–2007)
* Best Music Video Director (1999–2006)
* Best Mixed Group (2000–2009)
* Best Ballad Performance (1999–2009)
* Best R&B Performance (2000–2007)
* Best Indie Performance (1999–2002)
* Best House & Electronic Performance (2007–2009)
* Best Trot Performance (2009)
* Best Digital Single (2010)

## Most wins
### Daesang awards

The following lists the artist(s) who received two or more daesang awards. (Includes Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Worldwide Icon of the Year)
| Record set | Artist(s) | First year awarded | Recent year awarded |
| 21 | BTS | 2016 | 2023 |
| 6 | Exo | 2013 | 2017 |
| 5 | Big Bang | 2008 | 2015 |
| 4 | 2NE1 | 2009 | 2011 |
| 3 | Super Junior | 2007 | 2012 |
| 3 | Twice | 2016 | 2018 |
| 3 | Seventeen | 2023 | 2024 |
| 2 | H.O.T. | 1999 | 2000 |
| 2 | BoA | 2002 | 2004 |
| 2 | SG Wannabe | 2006 | 2006 |
| 2 | TVXQ | 2005 | 2008 |
| 2 | G-Dragon | 2009 | 2013 |
| 2 | NewJeans | 2023 | 2023 |

### Most awarded overall

| Record set | Artist(s) |
| 52 | BTS |
| 24 | Seventeen |
| 19 | Twice |
| 16 | Exo |
| 13 | Big Bang |
| 13 | Super Junior |
| 12 | IU |
| 11 | Blackpink |
| 11 | TVXQ |
| 10 | 2NE1 |
| 10 | Psy |
| 10 | Shinhwa |
| 9 | Aespa |
| 8 | BoA |
| 8 | G-Dragon |
| 7 | Ive |

## Controversies
### Boycotting incidents

In 2007, Lee Min-woo and Shin Hye-sung from the group Shinhwa canceled their appearance at the event one hour before the awards ceremony began. Shin later said they left because they did not trust the event to fairly select winners.
In 2009, entertainment companies Inwoo Production and SM Entertainment boycotted the 2009 awards ceremony with none of their artists attending. Both companies said the reason for their boycott was that they questioned the fairness of the voting process. In particular, SM Entertainment said that Girls' Generation had held the #1 spot on a music chart for nine consecutive weeks, but the group never won first place on Mnet's weekly M Countdown music show. The company also criticized a mobile poll which required participants to pay money in order to vote. In 2010, SM Entertainment artists also did not attend the year's awards ceremony.

### Voter fraud

Prior to the 2017 awards ceremony, Mnet found that some fans had cast fraudulent votes through the use of bots. As a result, Mnet temporarily halted voting, then nullified all fraudulent votes, blocked relevant IP addresses, and deleted relevant user accounts.

## Broadcasting

The ceremony broadcasts live worldwide via Mnet, TVING, tvN Asia, Mnet Japan, Mnet Smart+, other CJ ENM channels, and YouTube through Mnet K-POP, Mnet TV, M2, and KCON channels.
Other broadcasters that also broadcast the event includes au Smart Pass, Far EasTone Mobile Circle app & friDay Video, MeWATCH, TonTon, FPT Play, JOOX, ViuTV, Smart Livestream, and Vidio.