The Apparent “2023 MAMA Awards” Predictions Have Been Revealed

Though we’re still several months away from end-of-the-year awards shows, predictions for which K-Pop artists will be taking home the highly coveted daesangs have begun to be calculated using the data that has been collected in 2023 so far.

The criteria for the prestigious “Artist of the Year” for the MAMA Awards are as follows: 20% is determined by digital score, 30% by album sales, 10% by global score, and 40% by judges. Though the judge portion won’t be determined until later this year, the other three categories can give us a pretty good idea of who is at the top of the list right now.

The “Artist of the Year” is a close race right now, with SEVENTEEN‘s overall score slightly higher than NewJeans‘. However, with NewJeans having a comeback very soon, it’s possible that it will tip the scales in their favor.

Runners-up for the category are Stray Kids in 3rd, IVE in 4th, and Jimin in 5th.

For “Album of the Year”, the majority of the score is calculated just by album sales alone (60%); however, judges still make up another 40% of the total score, so that can make a difference.

With just the album sales determined so far, though, SEVENTEEN once again reigns at the top with their FML album, which has made around six million total sales. Stray Kids comes in second with ★★★★★ (5-STAR) at around 5.2 million sales, while TXT ranks in third with The Name Chapter: TEMPTATION and its 3.2 million sales.

Finally, the “Song of the Year” category for the MAMA Awards is determined by digital score (40%), global score (20%), and judge score (40%). Because of this scoring system, Korean netizens have a much larger impact on who wins the “Song of the Year” category than the previous two.

At this time, NewJeans is in the lead with their hit “Ditto”, and their total score is more than twice as much as the song in second place — IVE’s “I Am” — which pretty much secures their win! In third place is Jisoo with her solo debut “Flower”, fourth is “Cupid (Twin Ver.)” by FIFTY FIFTY, and fifth goes to “Candy” by NCT DREAM.

These predictions were recently shared on an online forum, and this is how fans are reacting to them in the comments section.

It will be interesting to see how accurate these predictions end up being by the end of the year!