The nominees for the 15th annual Korean Music Awards were announced today at 11am, KST. The nominated albums and songs have been selected from albums and songs released between December 1st 2016 and November 30th 2017. The Korean Music Awards do not take sales into consideration and the winners are determined by a panel of music critics and industry experts, making it a Korean version of the Grammy’s. This year the ceremony will take place on Wednesday February 28th at Guro Arts Valley Theater.

Album of the Year

• Kang Taegu – bleu
• The Black Skirts – Team Baby
• Kim Mokin – 콜라보 씨의 일일 (A Day in the Life of Mr. X)
• IU – Palette
• Hyukoh – 23

Song of the Year

• Red Velvet – “빨간 맛 (Red Flavor)”
• BTS – “DNA”
• IU – “밤편지 (Through The Night)”
• Woo Won Jae feat. LOCO & GRAY – “시차 (We Are)”
• Hyukoh – “Tomboy”

Artist of the Year

• Kim Mokin
• BTS
• IU
• Hyukoh

Rookie of the Year

• Rad Museum
• Bitgwasoeum
• Se So Neon
• Shin Hae Gyeong
• YESEO
• Woo Won Jae

Best Rock Album

• Lowdown 30 – B
• Raw By Peppers – Cosmos
• Magna Fall – Mad Metropolis
• Se So Neon – 여름깃 (Summer Plumage)
• Bitgwasoeum – Irregular

Best Rock Song

• ABTB – “무임승차 (Free Rider)”
• Grancale – “Treadmill”
• Bitgwasoeum – “무당 (Mudang)”
• Se So Neon – “파도 (The Wave)”
• Asian Chairshot – “산 새 그리고 나 (Mountain, bird and me)”

Best Modern Rock Album

• 3rd Line Butterfly – Divided By Zero
• The Black Skirts – Team Baby
• In the endless zanhyang we are – 우연의 연속에 의한 필연 (Inevitability Under Consecutive Coincidence)
• Sister’s Barbershop – 홀로 있는 사람들 (People Who Stay Alone)
• Hyukoh – 23

Best Modern Rock Song

• ADOY – “Grace”
• Doe Jaemyoung – “토성의 영향 아래 (Under the Sign of Saturn)”
• Shin Hae Gyeong – “모두 주세요 (Everything To Me)”
• Sister’s Barbershop – “홀로 있는 사람들 (People Who Stay Alone)”
• Hyukoh – “Tomboy”

Best Metal & Hardcore Album

• End These Days – Ambivalence
• Jaeha Kim – Into Ashes
• Abyss – Recrowned
• PAKK – Salpuri

Best Pop Album

• Red Velvet – Perfect Velvet
• BTS – Love Yourself 承 ‘Her’
• IU – Palette
• Lee Jin Ah – Random
• Taemin – Move
• Taeyeon – My Voice

Best Pop Song

• NCT 127 – “Cherry Bomb”
• Red Velvet – “빨간 맛 (Red Flavor)”
• BTS – “DNA”
• Sunmi – “가시나 (Gashina)”
• IU – “밤편지 (Through The Night)”

Best Dance & Electronic Album

• Mojave – 물체주머니 (Something the Braun tube left us)
• Sowall – Favorite
• Idiotape – Dystopian
• Kirara – KM
• YESEO – Million Things

Best Dance & Electronic Song

• Locked On – “Say Yeah”
• Raiden – “Heart of Steel”
• CIFIKA – “My Ego”
• YESEO – “실루엣 (Silhouette)”
• Idiotape – “Dystopian”

Best Rap & Hip-Hop Album

• Kim Ximya X D.Sanders – Moonshine
• Legit Goons – Junk Drunk Love
• Viann X Khundi Panda – 재건축 (Reconstruction)
• Chaboom – Sour
• Fana – Fanaconda

Best Rap & Hip-Hop Song

• Jazzyfact – “하루종일”
• Kim Ximya feat. Cautious Clay – “Career High”
• Chaboom – “리빠똥”
• Fana – “Power”
• Woo Won Jae feat. LOCO & GRAY – “시차 (We Are)”

Best R&B & Soul Album

• Rad Museum – Scene
• Rico – White Light Panorama
• Minje – Now
• offonoff – boy.
• Hippy was Gipsy – 나무 (Tree)

Best R&B & Soul Song

• Horim – “Temp-Ton”
• Peejay feat. Zion.T – “나비야 (NA B YA)”
• Rico – “Paradise”
• Samuel Seo – “Off You”
• offonoff – “gold”
• Hippy was Gipsy – “점 (Dot)”

Best Folk Album

• Kang Taegu – bleu
• Kim Mokin – 콜라보 씨의 일일 (A Day in the Life of Mr. X)
• Doma – 이유도 없이 나는 섬으로 가네 (Drifting to an Island for Reason I Don’t Know)
• Dhani Song – Songs For An Afterlife
• Jeongmilla – 은하수
• Gonne Choi – 노마드 신드롬 (Nomad Syndrome)

Best Folk Song

• Kang Taegu – “그랑블루 (bleu)”
• Kim Mokin – “걷다 보니 (Walking)”
• Kim Mokin X Siwa X Hwang Puha – “집에 가자”
• Doma – “Is This Love”
• Jeongmilla – “별”
• Gonne Choi – “하이랜더 (Highlander)”

Best Jazz Album

• Joonsam – A Door
• Youn Sun Nah – She Moves On
• Seo Young Do Electric Ensemble – 가물거리는 세상 (The Hazy World)
• Sunny Kim & Ben Monder – The Dream of the Earth
• Lee Jiyeun Contemporary Jazz Orchestra – Feather, Dream, Drop

Best Crossover Album

• 11 – Transparent Music
• Doyeon Kim & Chase Morrin – GaPi
• Aejang Ensemble Bow+ing – 아쟁앙상블 Bow+ing[보우잉] the 1st
• Hee-moon Lee & Prelude – 한국남자
• Han Seung Seok & Jung Jaeil – 끝내 바다에 (and there, the sea at last)

Best Jazz & Crossover Performance

• Joonsam – A Door
• Kim Chul-soo & Oh Jin-won – 我[a:]
• Myungsup Shin Group – Circular Dilemma
• Choi Sung Ho Singularity – 다르다와 틀리다는 다르다 (Different is Different from Wrong)
• Hogyu Hwang – Straight, No Chaser

For each song category above, click the heading to be directed to a YouTube playlist with all available nominated songs.

All nominated songs currently available on Spotify can be found in Indieful ROK’s KMA2018 Song Nominees playlist. All nominated albums currently available on Spotify can be found in Indieful ROK’s KMA2018 Album Nominees playlist