Year-end guide · Fri 30 Oct 2026
SBS Gayo Daejeon 2026: a two day Christmas at KINTEX
SBS closes the K-pop year with its 30th anniversary Gayo Daejeon, held over two days for the first time: Thursday 24 and Friday 25 December 2026 at KINTEX in Ilsan. The first lineup of 22 acts is out, but the day split and the ticket details are still to come: what is confirmed, and what is not.
What is confirmed
The 2026 SBS Gayo Daejeon plays KINTEX in Ilsan, Goyang, on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 December 2026. That much is settled, and it is a first twice over: SBS announced the dates and venue on 23 October 2026 with its first lineup, and the show has never run over two days before. The reason is the anniversary. Gayo Daejeon turns 30 in 2026, and SBS is marking it with a bigger edition, a diamond crown poster, and the promise of special stages that only happen at this show.
The first lineup: 22 acts
The first poster names 22 acts: Stray Kids, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, TREASURE, ENHYPEN, IVE, NMIXX, &TEAM, BOYNEXTDOOR, ZEROBASEONE, RIIZE, TWS, NCT WISH, RESCENE, MEOVV, KickFlip, Hearts2Hearts, ALLDAY PROJECT, CORTIS, ALPHA DRIVE ONE, AND2BLE, EVAN and TUIDE. Read it as a map of where K-pop stands at the end of 2026: the global headline groups at the top, the next generation building underneath, and the rookies close behind. It is not the whole bill. SBS says senior artists from the show's own history will be added for the anniversary, which is the announcement worth waiting for, and the split of acts between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day has not been published yet. Until that split lands, nobody can honestly tell you which night a given act plays.
Tickets: not yet, whatever the internet says
When this guide was checked, SBS had published no ticket sale details for the 2026 show: no on-sale date, no prices, no official seller. That is normal for this season, where ticketing often lands late, but it means anything already calling itself an official ticket is ahead of the facts. Wait for SBS's own announcement, then buy through the seller it names. Our event page will carry the update when it lands.
Making a Christmas of it
KINTEX sits in Ilsan, in the north west of the Seoul area, and a Christmas Day show makes a trip of it rather than a night out: come in for Christmas Eve, or stay over after the 25th, and pair the show with the city's winter season, which runs from 4 December into January. Our Seoul Winter Festa guide walks the lanterns, markets and light shows in the centre, an easy pairing on the days either side, and the awards season that leads into this one, the KGMA and the Melon Music Awards in November, is covered in our awards season guide. Stays around Ilsan and across Seoul are on the hotels page.
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