aespa, TXT, Stray Kids and More Win at 2026 TMElive International Music Awards

Across two days, the 2026 TMElive International Music Awards recognized a wide range of K-pop and international artists during ceremonies held on August 22 and 23. The two-day winners list included established acts, soloists, emerging groups, individual songs, albums, and a 10-track selection of global trends.

aespa collected several prominent first-day honors, while TXT, BLACKPINK, G-DRAGON, Stray Kids, Taeyeon, IVE, NMIXX, and other artists appeared across the major categories. The program also made room for recently launched groups through breakout, rising, anticipated, and new-artist prizes.

The two-day format distributed its largest honors across separate programs. Day 1 combined gendered group categories with song, album, digital EP, trend, and influence awards. Day 2 emphasized international artist and group titles while adding crossover, performance, icon, anticipated, and breakout categories.

aespa and TXT stand out on the first day

aespa won Best International Group of the Year — Female and Best Digital EP of the Year. The group also placed four solo tracks in the Global Trend Songs Top 10: Karina’s GOOD STUFF, Ningning’s Ketchup And Lemonade, Winter’s BLUE, and Giselle’s Tornado.

The remaining Global Trend Songs selections were BAEKHYUN’s Elevator, NEXZ’s Beat-Boxer, NMIXX’s Blue Valentine, WayV’s BIG BANDS, Stray Kids’ Do It, and YUQI’s Radio. Together, the list covered solo releases and group tracks from multiple generations of artists.

TXT received Best International Group of the Year — Male, while member Yeonjun won Breakout International Artist. RIIZE was named Trending International Group, BABYMONSTER received Global Icon Group, and Hearts2Hearts took Rising International Group.

ALLDAY PROJECT won Best New International Group, and ALPHADRIVEONE received Hottest International Group. Super Junior was named Most Influential International Group of the Year, while NCT’s Taeyong earned the Starlight Artist of the Year Award. KiiiKiii received the Melon Music Choice honor.

The first day closed with awards for major releases. BLACKPINK’s JUMP was named Best Song of the Year, and G-DRAGON’s Übermensch won Best Album of the Year, giving the opening ceremony two high-profile recording prizes.

Those results made aespa the most frequently repeated name in the first-day list: two group-level awards accompanied four member solo tracks in the trend selection. TXT also appeared at both group and individual levels through its group prize and Yeonjun’s breakout honor.

Stray Kids and Taeyeon take second-day honors

Stray Kids won International Group of the Year on the second day. Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon received Most Influential Artist of the Year, and Charlie Puth was named International Artist of the Year.

Several group awards reflected different stages of career development. NCT WISH won Breakout International Group, NMIXX received Leading International Group, IVE was named Hottest International Group, and AND2BLE took Most Anticipated International Group.

WayV received Asian Icon Group, while William Chan was named Asian Crossover Artist of the Year. EVAN won the Global K-Artist Award, PLAVE took Hottest Performance, and MEOVV received Breakout International Performance.

Awards span songs, careers, and new momentum

The full results show how the ceremony divided recognition among recorded music, performance, influence, popularity, and career momentum. Long-running artists such as Super Junior, G-DRAGON, Taeyeon, and BLACKPINK appeared alongside newer names including Hearts2Hearts, ALLDAY PROJECT, ALPHADRIVEONE, NCT WISH, MEOVV, and AND2BLE.

That structure produced a broad winners slate rather than concentrating every prize in a small set of categories. aespa’s multiple first-day wins and four solo entries in the trend list formed one recurring thread, while the second day shifted attention toward Stray Kids, Taeyeon, and a group of rising acts. The August 22–23 ceremonies concluded with winners representing both established international reach and newer momentum in the music market.