Jennie Wins Record Award as First Solo Artist; G-Dragon Claims Triple Crown at 2025 Melon Music Awards

The 2025 Melon Music Awards were held on December 20 at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, officially recognizing the major achievements of the K-pop industry. This event marked the 17th edition of Melon Music Awards, South Korea’s largest year-end K-pop ceremony, drawing attention as the four main award winners were announced on stage. BLACKPINK’s Jennie received the Album of the Year award, setting a historic milestone as a solo artist. She became the first performer to win Melon Music Awards’ highest honor, the Record Award, while working as a solo singer. G-Dragon achieved triple success by taking home three awards: Artist of the Year, Song of the Year ('Home Sweet Home' featuring Taeyang and Daesung), and Album of the Year ('Übermensch'). Melon Music Awards uses a weighted scoring system for most categories, assigning 60% weight to digital performance (downloads and streaming), 20% to judge evaluations, and 20% to fan voting. Most awards, except for the 'Million Top 10' and 'Track Zero Choice' categories, are determined using this method, with the Million Top 10 category giving 80% weight to platform performance and 20% to fan voting. Ten artists were nominated for Artist of the Year (Top 10), including aespa, BOYNEXTDOOR, G-Dragon, IVE, Jennie, Im Yong-woong, NCT WISH, PLAVE, RIIZE, and Rosé. For Album of the Year, G-Dragon’s 'Übermensch' defeated BABYMONSTER’s 'DRIP', IU’s 'Kkot Galpi 3', IVE’s 'IVE EMPATHY', Jennie’s 'Ruby', Im Yong-woong’s 'IM HERO 2', PLAVE’s 'Caligo Pt.1', RIIZE’s 'ODYSSEY', Rosé’s 'rosie', and SEVENTEEN’s 'HAPPY BURSTDAY' to win. In the Song of the Year category, G-Dragon’s 'Home Sweet Home' outperformed competitors such as 10CM’s 'To Reach You', BABYMONSTER’s 'DRIP', BOYNEXTDOOR’s 'IF I SAY, I LOVE YOU', HUNTR/X’s 'Golden', IVE’s 'REBEL HEART', Jennie’s 'like JENNIE', Maktub’s 'Starting With You', Rosé’s 'toxic till the end', and ZO ZAZZ’s 'Don't you know' to claim the title. For the Best Group category, IVE, the most highly praised female group, won the award, while BOYNEXTDOOR took home the prize for male groups. In the Newcomer category, ALLDAY PROJECT succeeded in overcoming Hearts2Hearts, ZO ZAZZ, KiiiKiii, and JAESSBEE to win. For the Million Top 10 category, tracks such as BOYNEXTDOOR’s 'No Genre', G-Dragon’s 'Übermensch', IU’s 'Kkot Galpi 3', IVE’s 'IVE EMPATHY', Jennie’s 'Ruby', Im Yong-woong’s 'IM HERO 2', PLAVE’s 'Caligo Pt.1', RIIZE’s 'ODYSSEY', and Rosé’s 'rosie' made it into the top 10, with BOYNEXTDOOR’s 'No Genre' being selected as the ultimate winner. ZICO won the Best Producer award, and Hearts2Hearts received the Berryz Global Fan Choice award. The eligibility period for this awards ceremony covered from October 31, 2024, to November 19, 2025, presenting results that represented artists who achieved outstanding performance on the Melon platform throughout the year.