SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – MAY 21: BTS attends a press conference for BTS’s new digital single ‘Butter’ at … [+]
While they might not have been in attendance, BTS still managed to dominate the 2021 Mnet Asian Music Awards, otherwise known as the MAMAs. The ceremony, one of the most prestigious in the South Korean music industry, was a welcome return to in-person televised ceremonies, with thousands of fans in attendance to see their favorite K-pop superstars put on an incredible show.
BTS came out of the evening as the top winners, and they snagged more trophies than most artists will manage during their entire careers. The boy band took home half a dozen of the main awards, and they also came out on top in two other verticals, winning eight prizes in all. Included in that total are all four Daesangs (the top awards).
BTS was named both Worldwide Icon of the Year and Artist of the Year, their single “Butter” won the coveted Song of the Year, while their late 2020 full-length Be was deemed the Album of the Year. The septet has landed all of these honors before, and most of them they’ve ended up the champions several times. In fact, BTS has now won Song of the Year three times (in a row), Album of the Year four times (also consecutively), Artist of the Year a record-extending sixth time and Worldwide Icon of the Year every year it’s been handed out.
In addition to those four top honors, BTS also claimed Best Male Group, Best Dance Performance – Male Group and Favorite Moment. The band also snagged one of the 10 Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10 trophies alongside Enhypen, Lisa, NCT 127, NCT Dream, Seventeen, Stray Kids, Tomorrow X Together, Treasure and Twice.
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Coming in behind BTS in terms of the number of awards won is IU, who collected three new prizes this year. The solo female superstar was named Best Female Artist, and she also dominated in both Best Vocal Performance (for her single “Celebrity”) and Best Collaboration (for “Nakka” with AKMU).
The only other act to win more than one competitive award was Aespa, who ruled both the Best Dance Performance – Female Group and Best New Female Artist categories. Including the “other” field that is Worldwide Fans’ Choice Top 10, Twice joins Aespa with a pair of trophies.
The 2021 MAMAs featured high-energy performances from the likes of Brave Girls, Itzy, Stray Kids, Tomorrow X Together, Wanna One, Aespa, as well as NCT U, NCT Dream and NCT 127.
