K-pop has several major award shows, but they do not use one universal prize hierarchy. Image: Mnet K-POP.
An artist wins a Bonsang. Later that night, the same artist wins a Daesang.
For a new K-pop fan, the obvious question is whether Bonsang is a preliminary prize and Daesang is the final round. That is too simple.
Daesang generally refers to a top or grand-prize level award. Bonsang generally refers to a main-prize category in which several artists, albums or songs may be honored. But K-pop does not have one governing body that defines those words for every awards show. Golden Disc, Melon Music Awards and MAMA use different category names, eligibility rules, data and judging systems.
That is why counting awards is easy. Comparing what those awards actually represent takes another step.
Golden Disc shows the Daesang–Bonsang structure most clearly
The Golden Disc Awards provides the cleanest example because its Korean official categories explicitly include Digital Song Bonsang, Album Bonsang and corresponding Daesang awards.
For the 40th Golden Disc Awards, the eligible period covered releases from early November 2024 through the end of October 2025. Sales were counted through the end of November 2025, and the awards used Circle Chart data together with evaluation by industry professionals, journalists, music-program producers, critics and distribution professionals.
The same rulebook also separates Digital Song, Album, Artist, Rookie, Special and Popular Vote categories.
A Bonsang recognizes major achievement within a division. A Daesang sits at the highest level of that division or award structure. Winning a Bonsang does not prevent the same act from later receiving a Daesang.
This is why seeing one artist's name twice in the results is not a contradiction.
MMA uses a different vocabulary
Melon Music Awards does not simply copy Golden Disc's category map.
For MMA 2025, TOP10 recognized ten major artists using a combination of digital performance, judging and voting. Major awards included Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
TOP10, Artist of the Year, Album of the Year and Best Song of the Year each used their own published formula. Record of the Year used judging rather than the same vote-and-stream formula.
Fans and English-language explainers sometimes group the biggest awards together under the broad idea of a Daesang. That shorthand can be useful in conversation. It should not replace the award show's own category names when comparing results.
If MMA officially calls an award “Artist of the Year,” that official name and its criteria matter more than forcing it into a universal Daesang/Bonsang chart.
MAMA creates several top prizes of its own
MAMA follows another structure again.
Its major awards have included Artist of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year, alongside fan-choice awards and genre or performance categories.
That means “Daesang” should not be imagined as one single championship cup awarded once across the whole K-pop industry.
A single awards show can have several top-level prizes because they recognize different things: an artist's year, a song, an album or another defined category.
| Award show | What to check first | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Golden Disc | Official Bonsang/Daesang division and published criteria | Assuming a Bonsang winner cannot also win a Daesang |
| MMA | Official category name and that category's formula | Renaming every major award Bonsang or Daesang |
| MAMA | Which top category is being discussed | Treating “the Daesang” as one universal K-pop trophy |
Fan voting is not one universal route to a Daesang
Another common misunderstanding appears when a fandom wins a vote but its artist does not receive the expected top award.
That can happen because the vote may apply to a different category, or because voting is only one part of the formula.
Some awards rely heavily on digital performance. Others use physical sales. Some mix data and judging. Dedicated popularity awards can give voting a much larger role.
So before asking, “How did they lose if they won the fan vote?”, check the official criteria for that exact award.
The name of the ceremony is not enough. The category matters.
A Daesang count is useful—but it does not normalize the rules
Fans understandably count Daesangs. They are major career achievements, and historical totals are an easy way to summarize a long awards record.
The limitation comes when the count is treated as though every award was selected under the same conditions.
Different ceremonies have different histories, eligible periods, data partners, categories and judging systems. Those rules can also change over time.
A Daesang count is a useful record. It does not make different award shows' rules identical.
Related video: Golden Disc Awards winners
This English-language winners recap makes the multiple main and top-prize categories easier to see side by side.
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