EXO, GOT7, BTS Rule In Album Sales; BLACKPINK, TWICE Win Big At Gaon Chart K-pop Awards
It came as no surprise that the boy bands and girl groups of K-pop dominated the 6th Gaon Chart K-Pop Awards, an award body that gives recognition to the top sellers in music industry. Boy bands EXO, GOT7 and BTS rounded up the year's top performers based on album sales per quarter.
The three acts were named Artists of the Year with EXO topping physical album sales for their album "EX'ACT" for the second and third quarters while GOT7's "Flight Log: Turbulence" took the prize for the first quarter. BTS rounded out the last quarter with their "Wings" album, reported Billboard.
There were also prizes for the monthly category kicking off with G-Friend, MAMAMOO, Jang Bum Joon, TWICE bagging the months of April and October, Urban Zakapa, SISTAR, Wonder Girls, BLACKPINK for August and November, Lim Chang Jung and Big Bang.
Rookie of the year honors for the album category went to NCT 127while Blackpink took the award for the song category. Style of the Year honors went BTS choreographer Son Seung Deuk and TWICE stylist Choi Hui Seon.
The award also honored Discoveries of the Year - R&B artist Dean, Hip Hop prodigy BewHY, indie singer Bolbbalgan4 and balladeer Han Dong Geun. BTS's popularity was validated when it received the award for V LIVE Global Popularity. MC the Max brought home back to back prizes for Popular Singer of the Year and Long-Run Song of the Year.
Rounding up the awards were Bang Shi Hyuk for Producer of the year; SECHSKIES for K-pop Contribution of the Year; EXO's Jo Yoon Kyung for Song Writer of the Year; : Black Eyed Pilseung for Composer of the Year; boy band SHINee for World Hallyu Star and INFINITE and SEVENTEEN for Hot Performance of the Year, reported Soompi.
Fans also aired their voices and made their choice for Artist of Fan Choice which went to EXO's Sehun for the individual category and EXO for the group category. Performer of the Year awards went to Kim Ryeong (Chorus) and Lee Seong Yeol, Choi Tae Wan (Instrument).