ATEEZ, BTS, NMIXX, CORTIS, RIIZE Top Winners

Jung Kook, Jin, Jimin, RM, SUGA, V and j-hope of BTS attends the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Festival at T-Mobile Arena on September 18, 2026 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for iHeartRadio)

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The ninth edition of The Fact Music Awards was held Saturday at Busan Asiad Main Stadium in South Korea with its four top prizes split four ways with NMIXX, ATEEZ, RIIZE and CORTIS each taking one of the night’s grand prizes — known as Daesangs in Korea — while BTS landed the most trophies overall.

Winners are determined through a mix of data from Korea’s long-running Circle Charts, a panel of judges and fan participation scores from voters around the world. Several categories including Today’s Choice, World Best Performer and Next Leader decided by on-site voting.

ATEEZ won Icon of the Year, just after the eight-member group also led the K-World Dream Awards with four trophies three weeks prior. NMIXX took Sound of the Year, the first Daesang of the critically acclaimed girl group’s career, while RIIZE won Muse of the Year and rookie group CORTIS took Record of the Year. All four also won an Artist of the Year award, a category that recognized 11 acts in total.

Continuing the success of the Forbes 2026 30 Under 30 – Asia honorees’ two massive years, CORTIS and NMIXX finished with the most wins of any act in the building for this year’s TMAs, with CORITS adding the Next Leader honor to Artist of the Year and Daesang award while NMIXX’s Sullyoon was the FANNSTAR MYSTAR (Female) winner, bringing her group’s total to three for the night. But the night’s biggest haul belonged to BTS, who won four awards taking the FANNSTAR CHOICE (Group) prize along with Best Music honors for both spring and summer, while member Jin was named the FANNSTAR MYSTAR (Male) choice.

The 2026 TMAs recognized eleven different artists in the Artist of the Year, the second-highest honor of the night — known as a Bonsang in Korea — including female soloist YENA, boy bands ATEEZ, RIIZE, CORTIS, TREASURE and ALPHA DRIVE ONE, girl groups NMIXX, ILLIT, RESCENE and KiiiKiii, as well as co-ed quintet ALLDAY PROJECT.

Nine acts finished with two apiece. Alongside the Daesang winners, TREASURE paired World Best Performer with an Artist of the Year honor, and ALPHA DRIVE ONE matched an Artist of the Year as one of the Next Leader winners. RESCENE combined an Artist of the Year with Today’s Choice, and virtual group PLAVE took Best Music (Autumn) and the Global Hot Star Award. Trot singer Lim Young Woong won the TMA Popularity Award and the Special Jury Award, while Lee Chan Won took FANNSTAR CHOICE (Solo) and Best Music (Winter).

Other major honors include World Best Wave, which went to EVAN (formerly known as Heeseung of ENHYPEN), and the Global Hot Trend, shared by tripleS and CLOSE YOUR EYES, while xikers and IDID split the Hottest award.

Seventeen acts performed across the stadium show. Some of the night’s special stages included ATEEZ debuting a live performance of “MAMACITA” from their latest album Golden Hour : Part.5, RESCENE unveiled an orchestral arrangement of their 2024 breakout smash “LOVE ATTACK” and Lim Young Woong marked his 10th anniversary since debut with a new song from his special album IM HERO 10. The ceremony also leaned hard on cover stages with xikers taking on BTS’ ARIRANG album standout “Hooligan,” CLOSE YOUR EYES performing NCT DREAM’s “Beat It Up” and tripleS reinterpreting aespa’s “LEMONADE.” And in tribute to the host venue, TREASURE’s Jihoon and KiiiKiii’s Jiyu, both Busan natives, performed together as the one-off duo known as “Busan-z.”

TV personality Jun Hyunmoo and Girls’ Generation member Seohyun hosted together for the seventh time as a pair, with comedian Jaejae handling red carpet duties.

Controversially, the show also saw Kim Soohyun taking the stage at a Korean public event for the first time in 18 months after allegations of that the actor had been in a relationship with late actress-singer Kim Saeron when she was a minor. Kim Soohyun and his agency denied and said the two only dated when the actress was no longer a minor, an investigation by the Seoul Gangnam Police Station found evidence against Kim was falsified. While several individuals who brought allegations against Kim have been arrested or detained, no final court ruling has been issued though Kim’s image has taken a toll after being dropped or sued by various endorsements and partnerships.

See the full list of awards and winners from 2026’s The Fact Music Awards below.