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MMA 2026 Voting Is Open Until November 13: How Much Your Vote Counts, and Who’s Performing

Published: 2026-10-31

• Category: News
• Artist: aespa

KPOP NO1 Editorial · Sources checked October 31, 2026

The 18th Melon Music Awards are two weeks away, and fan voting has moved into its final round. Category voting opened on Melon on October 30 and runs until November 13. Before you vote, it helps to know how much a vote is worth. In most categories it’s 20 percent of the score. Here’s what Melon’s official pages say about the dates, the scoring and who will perform.

Who’s performing

Melon’s MMA 2026 page lists 14 acts for the two nights (in Melon’s order): TUIDE, IDID, HANA, Dragon Pony, aespa, AEN, I.O.I, TWS, NCT DREAM, ATEEZ, CHOI YE NA, RESCENE, Hearts2Hearts and RIIZE. The page doesn’t yet say which act performs on which night. Melon: MMA 2026

The official teaser went up on 1theK on October 30. Its slogan is “K-POP CONNECT: The New Pulse.”

How much does one vote count?

Fans vote, but votes don’t decide most awards on their own. Melon publishes a formula for each category:

So for the biggest awards, streaming and downloads (the “digital score”) weigh three times as much as fan votes. A panel adds another fifth. Some awards, including Record of the Year and Stage of the Year, have no public vote at all.

Our take: This is why the act that leads a vote isn’t always the one that wins. Votes are a real share, but listening counts for more in most categories. And a panel decides one fifth of the main awards and all of the special ones.

Which songs count

• Main categories: digital tracks released from November 20, 2025 to October 14, 2026.
• Global TOP10: a separate window, May 11 to October 14, 2026, based on each artist’s total on the Global-K Chart. Melon combines chart data from Melon, TME and LINE MUSIC in equal parts. Release date doesn’t matter here.
• TrackZero Choice: October 5, 2025 to October 4, 2026.
• Hot Trend: no release-date limit.

Before you vote

1. Use Melon’s own page. Start from the MMA 2026 page so you’re on the live ballot, not a screenshot of the closed TOP10 round.
2. Check the right app. Two popularity awards are voted elsewhere: Japan Favorite Artist on U-NEXT and Everyone’s Star in the KakaoBank app.
3. Plan the time zone. 6 p.m. KST on November 14 is 4 a.m. Eastern, 1 a.m. Pacific and 9 a.m. in London, all on the same Saturday.

We haven’t been able to confirm whether every overseas fan can sign up and vote, so check Melon’s FAQ for your country.

Sources

• Melon: MMA 2026 information and award categories (dates, venue, streaming, formulas, evaluation periods), MMA 2026 main page (category voting and show lineup)
• 1theK official YouTube: MMA2026 teaser (October 30, 2026)

[MMA2026] MELON MUSIC AWARDS 2026 (멜론뮤직어워드 2026) Teaser