The Seoul Music Awards 2022 were held on January 23 at Gocheok Sky Dome. The awards night led to a ceremonious display of fantastic performances and K-music talent being awarded for its worth.
Lim Young-woong, BTS, IU and ENHYPEN won multiple awards, while groups such as EPEX, Brave Girls, STAYC, and more won a Bonsang each.
Seoul Music Awards featured 30% of fan votes for certain award categories like its previous editions. Other percentiles were panel evaluation for 40% and 30% for music and album sales.
Who are the winners of the Seoul Music Awards 2022?
The Bonsang category was awarded to 13 artists, while the Rookie Award was given to three artists for their outstanding achievements in 2022.
Other categories in the Seoul Music Awards 2022 included Discovery of the Year, Trot Award, OST Award, and Best Album, among many others. Check out the complete list of winners below:
Special Jury Award: Jung Dong-ha
K-Wave Award (Outside Korea): EXO
Popularity Award (Korea): Lim Young-woong
U+ Idol Live Best Artist Award: BTS
Discovery of the Year: Lang Lee
Ballad Award: Red Velvet’s Wendy’s Like Water
R&B.Hip Hop Award: HyunA’s I’m Not Cool
Trot Award: Lim Young-woong’s My Starry Love
OST Award: Lim Young-woong’s Love Always Runs Away (Young Lady and Gentleman)
World Best Artist Award: BTS
Best Song Award: IU for Lilac
Best Performance Award: STAYC and ENHYPEN
Rookie of the Year: Lee Mujin, OMEGA X and EPEX
Best Album Award: NCT DREAM’s Hot Sauce
Bongsang: ENHYPEN, Heize, Brave Girls, Oh My Girl, Kang Daniel, aespa, ATEEZ, NCT 127, THE BOYZ, Lim Young-woong, BTS, SEVENTEEN and IU.
Daesang: NCT 127
Congratulations (as well as criticism) poured in on Twitter from various fandoms as they celebrated their wins (and losses). The Seoul Music Awards 2022 also marked NCT 127’s first-ever Daesang (Grand Prize) since its debut in 2016.
Fans criticize the Seoul Music Awards by trending #SMARigged on Twitter
Most fandoms took to Twitter to express their disappointment at the Seoul Music Award 2022’s Bonsang and Rookie of the Year winner's choices. International fans joined Korean netizens to discuss the alleged "rigged" system of the Seoul Music Awards 2022 on social media.
The categories included 40% fan votes and 30% album and music sales. TXT, Stray Kids, NCT DREAM, and IVE are the groups fans believe have been snubbed by the awards ceremony.
Fanbases’ charts with predictions and calculations based on continuous votes' monitoring claimed these groups were in the top 10 ranks.
While some fans may be upset with the results, fandoms of the Award winners are ecstatic. Stay tuned here for all the latest K-pop news, updates, and features.