Awards season in Seoul: the KGMA and the Melon Music Awards, back to back

One dome, two weekends

Seoul's award season used to mean one long night in December. In 2026 its centre of gravity sits in November, at Gocheok Sky Dome in Guro-gu, in the west of the city. The Korea Grand Music Awards play the dome on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November, and exactly a week later the Melon Music Awards play the same stage on Saturday 14 and Sunday 15 November. Same venue, same city, two entirely different shows: a young awards night organised by a sports newspaper, and the chart driven institution of Korean streaming. A fan with two weekends can do both from one hotel base; a fan with one weekend has to choose, and the choice is made by lineup and by ticketing, not by venue.

First weekend: the Korea Grand Music Awards, 7 and 8 November

The 2026 KGMA is the third edition of the awards, presented by Ilgan Sports, and it is split into two themed days of twenty acts each. Saturday 7 November is Artist Day: TREASURE, tripleS, P1Harmony, FIFTY FIFTY, CRAVITY and MEOVV among the idol groups, with the bands LUCY and Novelbright and trot singer Jang Min-ho widening the bill. Sunday 8 November is Music Day: ATEEZ, RIIZE, ITZY, TWS, WayV, KISS OF LIFE and KickFlip in the twenty. A K-Beauty Festa runs alongside the awards, with beauty brands and creators in the dome across both days, and this year the pre-show red carpet is replaced by a Star Road walk that only ticket holders inside the venue get to see. The show is broadcast on ENA in Korea, with a live stream on Hulu in Japan. Ticketing is the straightforward half of this guide: domestic tickets are sold exclusively through NOL, the platform formerly known as Interpark Ticket, the first sale opened on 2 October, and a second round of floor seats was added on 27 October after requests from fans. Prices and seat grades sit on the NOL listing itself; our calendar record carries no price, because the committee had not published one when the record was checked.

Second weekend: the Melon Music Awards, 14 and 15 November

The Melon Music Awards are the older institution, and 2026 is their structural break: the 18th edition, presented by Kakao Entertainment with KakaoBank as title sponsor, runs two days for the first time in the awards' history, under the theme K-POP CONNECT: The New Pulse, starting at 18:00 on both days. Twenty six acts are split fourteen and twelve, and the split is the planning fact: Saturday 14 November, billed Global Day, carries I.O.I reuniting on stage after nine years, with aespa, NCT DREAM, ATEEZ, RIIZE and TWS. Sunday 15 November, Music Day, carries IVE, NCT 127, NCT WISH, ILLIT and CORTIS. The awards themselves are built on Melon's streaming data and fan voting, and this year adds a Global TOP 10 award tied to the platform's new Global-K Chart, which folds in listening from Korea, China and Japan. U-NEXT streams both days live in Japan. Ticketing is where MMA differs from the KGMA, and it is the part travelling fans get wrong: seats are sold through Melon Ticket, and the October sale rounds were tied to Melon membership, with the first round for higher tier members and a second for paid members. An overseas fan cannot assume an open general sale; check the listing's eligibility terms before building travel around a seat, and choose your day by the lineup split first, because the two days share almost no acts.

Basing the trip

Gocheok Sky Dome stands in the west of Seoul, a short walk from Guil station on Line 1, and our Gocheok and the west guide covers the area around it. For a single show, any Seoul base on Line 1 or Line 5 does the job; for both weekends, the arithmetic changes: two round trips to the same dome argue for sleeping in the west of the city, or at least on a line that reaches Guro without a change. Flying in, the airport railway is the painless arrival: AREX expresses run from Incheon International to Seoul Station in 43 minutes, and the AREX ticket card on our attractions page carries the partner booking button. The hotels page sets out the Seoul bases by district. For the wider rhythm of announcements, platforms and late sales that both of these shows follow, our concert calendar explainer is the background read.

The season's final act: Christmas at KINTEX

The November pair are the season's core, but not its end. The SBS Gayo Daejeon closes the year on Thursday 24 and Friday 25 December at KINTEX in Ilsan, Goyang: the broadcaster's year-end festival marks its 30th anniversary by running two days for the first time, with a first lineup of 22 acts announced on 23 October, led by Stray Kids, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and TREASURE, and senior artists from the show's history still to be added. Ticket details had not been published when we checked. It is worth knowing that the season's other headline shows sit outside Korea this year, so for a December trip the SBS show is the one in the Seoul area to build around. Between the MMA and Christmas, the events calendar carries what else lands in the capital in December.

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