Winners from the 26th Golden Disk Awards (Part 1)

On January 11th, many of Korea’s top musicians and pop stars gathered at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka for the 26th Golden Disk Awards.

This year, the show was divided into two parts: the first part (held on January 11th) honors the winners of the physical album categories, while the second party (held on January 12th) will do the same for digital albums. KARA‘s Park Gyuri and Super Junior‘s Leeteuk acted as MCs for this year’s awards.

The first ‘Golden Disk Awards’ began in 1986, and since then, it’s become Korea’s most prestigious awards ceremony for music. Nicknamed the ‘Korean Grammy Awards,’ the ceremony is reputed for its fair standards, as the committee utilizes figures from album and digital music sales only.

Below are the list of winners from this year’s show!

▲ Disk Daesang

- Super Junior

▲ Disk Bonsang

- f(x)

- INFINITE

- MBLAQ

- Jay Park

- KARA

- CNBLUE

- B2ST

- Super Junior

▲ Rookie Award

- B1A4

- Dal Shabet

- A Pink

▲ Popularity Award

- Super Junior

▲ Hallyu Icon Award

- INFINITE

- Rainbow

▲ Best Hallyu Star Award

- KARA

▲ MSN Japan Award

- Super Junior

▲ CeCi Award

- B2ST

▲ Golden Disk Producer Award

- Hong Seung Sung (Cube Entertainment)

Congratulations to all of the winners!

What did you think of the results of the Golden Disk Awards this year? Tell us your thoughts in the comment box below!

’26th Golden Disk Awards’ receives heavy criticisms

The ‘26th Golden Disk Awards‘ is being heavily criticized for its decision to take the show to Osaka, Japan.

Sponsored by Ilgan Sports and jTBC, the Golden Disk Awards booked the Osaka Kyocera Dome, a decision that many Korean fans failed to understand. When the location was first announced in October, netizens questioned, “It was Koreans who bought the albums, so why is it being held in Japan?” and“Now they’re asking us to go all the way to Japan to watch the show?”

Despite the criticisms, organizers went ahead and set up the show in Japan.

Many continued to complain about the ceremony, arguing that they couldn’t see why Japan was relevant to the awards when sales figures were calculated from Korea only. Additionally, organizers opted for an indoor baseball stadium instead of a regular concert hall, resulting in more expensive tickets.

If fans could afford to go, they’d be buying tickets worth $178 USD a piece. Since the show is held over a course of two days, the price doubles, bringing the total to $356 USD, a hefty number for young wallets. The ticket prices itself have brought about new waves of criticisms about how the show was trying to use the Hallyu wave for their financial benefit.

Although the Golden Disk Awards has a prestigious history of being a ‘fair awards ceremony’ due to its standard of ‘sales, not popularity’, many have begun to question that reputation as well. This year, the non-attendance of YG and JYP Entertainment artists as well as the exclusion of JYJ drew concerns of fairness.

The show will still go on, however, and the festivities will broadcast through jTBC on January 21st and 22nd as a Lunar New Year special. Of course, this stemmed another issue as well, as many fans felt they should have a chance to see it live on TV, and not through a recorded version one week later.

[ For the list of 'Golden Disk Awards' winners, click here for Part 1]

KARA to embark on their Asia tour next month

Five member girl group KARA will be going international in February with an overseas tour! Starting with a concert in Korea this February, the girls will be hitting major cities in Asia to meet with their many fans. They are still in the process of securing the dates for their concert, moving around the events they have in Korea and Japan.

KARA will be performing ‘KARASIA‘ at Olympic Hall in Seoul on February 18th & 19th, and this is the girls’ first independent concert since their debut in 2007 with ‘Blooming‘. The tour title is appropriate, as KARA is embarking on this tour to become one with their fans in Asia, hence, KARASIA.

A representative from their agency DSP Media informed StarNews on the 11th, “KARA had put on numerous performances in the past and fan meet-and-greets as well, but this is the first time they are putting on an independent concert since their debut. The girls have come a long way, now being one of Korea’s top girl groups and they plan on meeting with all of their fans that have supported them for the entirety of their journey.”

The fans themselves have been anxiously waiting for a concert. Their agency reserved one of Korea’s largest halls to ensure that a large number of fans would be able to see their favorite girl group. The tickets for the concert are being sold at a rapid rate.

KARA is without a doubt at the forefront of the Hallyu wave, going back and forth between Korea and Japan. They showcased their adorable charms and powerful performances with hit songs like “Mister“, “Jumping“, “Honey“, “Pretty Girl“, and more, while “Mister”, “Go Go Summer“, “Jetcoaster Love” and more were huge hits in Japan.

KARA has been highly acknowledged in Japan and has become one of the hottest girl groups today. They have earned the honor of performing at the NHK Red & White Music Festival last month, an opportunity reserved only for the most elite of Japanese celebrities.