K-pop superstars BTS won the “daesang” (grand prize), or Album of the Year, on the second day of the 35th Golden Disc Awards (GDA) held on Jan. 10 and hosted by actress Lee Da-hee and singer Sung Si-kyung.
This is BTS’ fourth straight year to win the Album of the Year at GDA after bagging it for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019.
BTS took home the daesang for “Map of the Soul: 7,” which was released on Feb. 21, 2020 and recorded 4.37 million copies in sales for the year, according to Gaon Music Chart’s Album Chart. They also won a “bonsang” (main prize) and the Most Popular Artist award.
Actor Kim Nam-gil announced and presented the grand prize winner. Lee Min Ho announced the Digital Song of the Year on the first day.
Winning the bonsang, or Best Album, are BTS, GOT7, BLACKPINK, TXT, TWICE, Seventeen, EXO’s Baekhyun, NCT, EXO and NCT 127.
The nominees were selected based on albums released between November 2019 and November 2020. For the Album of the Year, Best Album and Rookie of the Year, the criteria were 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
The winners in the Album Division at the 35th Golden Disc Awards are:
Daesang (Grand Prize or Album of the Year) - BTS, “Map of the Soul: 7”
Bonsang (Main Prize or Best Album)
- BTS, “Map of the Soul: 7”
- GOT7, “Dye”
- BLACKPINK, “The Album”
- TXT, “The Dream Chapter: Eternity”
- Seventeen, “Heng:garae”
- TWICE, “More & More”
- EXO’s Baekhyun, “Delight”
- EXO, “Obsession”
- NCT, “Resonance Pt. 1”
- NCT 127, “NCT #127 Neo Zone”
Most Popular Artist - BTS
Rookie Artists of the Year - ENHYPEN, Treasure, Kim Ho-joong
QQ Music Fans’ Choice K-pop Artist - EXO
Best Performance - Stray Kids, G(I)-DLE
Cosmopolitan Artist - NCT 127
Best OST - Jo Jung-suk