The first voting round for the 2025 Hanteo Music Awards (한터뮤직어워즈) kicked off today, revealing a total of 80 nominees for the Popularity Award category. K-pop fans are entering the new year on an anticipatory high by looking forward to the 33rd edition of the annual music awards show presented by Hanteo Global Inc.

On Monday, January 5, the official social media account of the Hanteo Music Awards disclosed the shortlisted artists earning a nod in the preliminary voting rounds in the Popularity Award and WhosFandom Award races. With all K-pop music releasing throughout 2025 eligible to secure a safe spot in the competition, fans witnessed quite a few of their favourite artists earning a mention in the fully fan-voted categories.

With Hanteo Chart offering real-time album sales, this particularly South Korean ceremony picks its winners on the basis of several indices like physical album sales, digital music streaming and fandom influence.

The 33rd Hanteo Music Awards are set to be held on February 15, 2026, at the KSPO Dome. Here’s what you need to know about the initial voting rounds.

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2025 Hanteo Music Awards voting guide

Hanteo Music Awards voting will officially take place on the HMA 2025 voting platforms, which are Whosfan, Fancast and Mubeat. Fans may vote for the Domestic Popularity Award (or Best Popular Artist) and the Global Popularity Award in three rounds, with the first one kicking off on January 5.

Here’s the schedule for all three rounds of voting:

  • Round 1: From January 5 to January 14
  • Round 2: From January 16 to January 25
  • Round 3 – Final: From January 27 to February 7

Fans hoping to secure a win for their favourite K-pop idols through these categories should note that one vote on Fancast or Mubeat is equivalent to three voted on Whosfan.

On top of that of voting ratios, results collected from each platform will be weighted differently, as per the current round. And so, the weightage for each round is as follows – Round 1: 30%, Round 2: 30%, Round 3: 40%.

On the flip side, votes for the WhosFandom Award Top 16 category can only be pitched on the Whosfan website. You can find more details here: whosfan.com/contents/695b0ef061d7d13157350be8

2025 Hanteo Music Awards nominees – Best Popular Artist

  • NEXZ
  • NouerA
  • THE BOYZ
  • DAY6
  • RIIZE
  • BLACKPINK’s Rose
  • LE SSERAFIM
  • BLACKPINK’s Lisa
  • RESCENE
  • NCT’s Mark
  • MONSTA X
  • i-dle’s Minnie
  • Park Jihyeon
  • BTS
  • EXO’s Baekhyun
  • BABYMONSTER
  • BOYNEXTDOOR
  • SEVENTEEN’s BSS
  • VIVIZ
  • SHINee
  • SEVENTEEN
  • SUPER JUNIOR
  • STAYC
  • Stray Kids
  • SECRET NUMBER
  • i-dle
  • IDID
  • IVE
  • IU
  • ILLIT
  • AHOF
  • &TEAM
  • SEVENTEEN’s CxM
  • aespa
  • ATEEZ
  • NMIXX
  • NCT DREAM
  • NCT WISH
  • N.Flying
  • ENHYPEN
  • TXT’s Yeonjun
  • YOUNGTAK
  • ALLDAY PROJECT
  • i-dle’s Yuqi
  • WOODZ
  • UNIS
  • ISEGYE IDOL
  • izna
  • Lee Chanwon
  • BTOB’s Lee Changsub
  • Lim Young Woong
  • ITZY
  • BLACKPINK’s Jennie
  • ZEROBASEONE
  • BTS’s j-hope
  • G-Dragon (of BIGBANG)
  • BLACKPINK’s Jisoo
  • BTS’ Jin
  • K-Pop Demon Hunters
  • CORTIS
  • QWER
  • CRAVITY
  • CLOSE YOUR EYES
  • KISS OF LIFE
  • KiiiKiii
  • KickFlip
  • TEMPEST
  • TXT
  • TWS
  • TREASURE
  • tripleS
  • TWICE
  • fromis_9
  • PLAVE
  • P1Harmony
  • Hearts2Hearts
  • NCT’s Haechan
  • SEVENTEEN’s HxW
  • MAMAMOO”s Hwasa
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2025 Hanteo Music Awards nominees – WhosFandom Award Top 16

Top 16 voting period extends from January 5 to 12 (KST). Here are the nominees (fandom – K-pop group):

  • ARMY – BTS (A1)
  • ENGENE – ENHYPEN (A1)
  • CARAT – SEVENTEEN (A2)
  • VIP – BIGBANG (A2)
  • MOA – TXT (B1)
  • HERO GENERATION – Lim Young Woong (B1)
  • S2U – Hearts2Hearts (B1)
  • EXO-L – EXO (B1)
  • PLLI – PLAVE (C1)
  • MY – aespa (C1)
  • FEARNOT – LE SSERAFIM (C1)
  • THE B – THE BOYZ (C1)
  • STAY – Stray Kids (D1)
  • TREASURE MAKER – TREASURE (D1)
  • BRIIZE – RIIZE (D2)
  • COER – CORTIS (D2)

There will be a total of four Grand Prize / Daesang categories: Album, Performance, Music and Artist.

Nominees for the following award categories are yet to be revealed: Hanteo Top 10, Rookie of the Year Hanteo, Emerging Artist, Post Generation, Special Award (Ballad), Special Award (Trot), Special Award (HipHop), Special Award (Band), Special Award (Virtual), Special Award (Independent), Special Award (OST), Artist of Year Awards by Continent, Best Solo/ Group, World Stage, Pop Icon and Main Prize.

However, results for these won’t be 100% based on fan votes. Hanteo Music chart global score and judging scores will also impact these rounds. Contrarily, results for certain awards like Best Producer, Legendary, Next Generation and more will be 100% based on judges’ scores.

Only the Domestic Popularity and Global Popularity Award categories will fully churn out results on the basis of fan votes.

Performer lineup announcements and more updates related to the 33rd Hanteo Music Awards are awaited. Stay tuned!