K-pop princess IU led the winners on the first day of the 35th Golden Disc Awards (GDA) held on Jan. 9 and hosted by actor Lee Seung-gi and actress Park So-dam.
The awards ceremony held on day 1 honored winners in the Digital Song Division. The second day of the awards on Jan. 10 will fete winners in the Album Division.
IU bagged the “daesang” (grand prize), or Digital Song of the Year for “Blueming,” which was presented and announced by actor Lee Min Ho. This is IU’s second GDA daesang since winning her first in 2017 for “Through the Night.”
The 10 winners of the “bonsang” (main prize), or Best Digital Song, are BTS, IU, BLACKPINK, Mamamoo’s Hwasa, ITZY, Red Velvet, Oh My Girl, Zico, Noel and Mamamoo.
Included in this year’s awards were songs released between November 2019 and November 2020.
For the Digital Song of the Year, Album of the Year and bonsang winners, the criteria are sales (60 percent) and expert evaluation (40 percent). The 50-member evaluation group consisted of industry officials, K-pop reporters, music program producers, pop culture critics, major distribution officials and Golden Disc Awards evaluation committee
“Expert evaluation assesses overall music success, social and cultural impact along with total sales volume,” according to the GDA website.
Other winners in the Digital Song Division are:
Golden Choice - NU'EST
Best Ballad - Lee Seung-gi
Best Group - Monsta X
Next Generation Award - The Boyz, Loona
Trend of the Year - Zico
Best R&B/Hip-hop - Changmo
Best Trot - Lim Young-woong
Best Solo Artist - Jessi