BTS, BLACKPINK, 250 sweep inaugural Music Awards Japan 2026

A K-pop contingent led by BTS and BLACKPINK made a dazzling entrance at Music Awards Japan 2026, the country's newly launched music awards ceremony.

According to the final winners list released Monday by the ceremony's official organizing committee, BTS took home Best K-Pop Artist, recognizing the group's standout performance in Japan over the past year. BLACKPINK, which has maintained a dual-powerhouse status with BTS in the global music market, claimed Best K-Pop Song in Japan for their mega-hit "Jump."

Solo artists also made a strong showing. Jin of BTS proved his streaming power with "Don't Say You Love Me," winning Best of Listeners' Choice: International Song Powered by Spotify, a category that heavily weights global streaming platform data. G-Dragon, who has built a distinctive musical world of his own, took the Korean Popular Music Special Award for his recent release "POWER."

"Golden," the main theme of the globally successful Netflix original animated series "K-Pop Demon Hunters," won Best Song Asia. Rapper Lee Young-ji's collaboration with Japanese singer-songwriter Hoshino Gen, the track "2," was named Best Cross-Border Collaboration Song — a result that showcased the two countries' cultural exchange at its best.

The most closely watched result of the night, however, centered on the work produced by J-pop star Fujii Kaze and Korean DJ and producer 250, also known as Io Kong. Fujii Kaze swept three awards for his third studio album "Prema" — Album of the Year, the ceremony's top honor, along with Best R&B/Contemporary Song and Best R&B/Contemporary Artist.

The album had generated buzz from the outset because 250, the producer behind many of NewJeans' hits, handled production on every track. The two artists spent an extended period together at the House of Refuse studio, a multidisciplinary cultural space on Jeju Island, last year, collaborating closely to shape and complete the entire record.