With less than a month remaining until the 2015 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), Big Bang and EXO maintain a strong lead over key categories, including Artist of the Year.
EXO currently leads the online vote in the Artist of the Year category with 27.8 percent. Big Bang closely follows with 27.6 percent of the popular vote, maintaining a significant margin above CNBLUE's Jung Yong Hwa, who is in third place with 11.2 percent.
The UnionPay Song of the Year award spans artists from different genres, but Big Bang and EXO also maintain their stronghold over this key category.
Big Bang is the frontrunner with 29.5 of online votes for their hit "Bang Bang Bang," followed by EXO with 28.5 percent for "Call Me Baby." CNBLUE follows with 11.4 percent for their comeback track, "Cinderella."
Here is a breakdown of the current rankings, in other categories.
YG Entertainment's rookie group, iKON, leads the Best New Male Artist category with 37 percent while TWICE, the latest act from JYP, carries the Best New Female Artist division.
Super Junior's Kyuhyun is the forerunner for Best Male Artist and IU currently leads the Best Female Artist category.
Big Bang currently leads the Best Male Group category with 31.2 percent, while Girls' Generation are the at the front of the pack for Best Female Group.
Amber of f(x) is attracting attention for 2015 release. She currently dominates the Best Dance Performance Solo category with 34.8 percent.
SM Entertainment continues to demonstrate their strength as leading dancers, with EXO leading the Best Dance Performance Male group division with 32 percent of online votes, followed by Red Velvet who currently has 29.9 percent of the popular vote in the Best Dance Performance Female Group category.
Kyuhyun and Taeyeon also lead in the Best Male and Female Vocal Performance categories, with 43.3 percent and 30.8 percent, respectively.
"Running Man" and LeeSsang star, Gary, leads the Best Rap Performance division with 39 percent of online votes.
CNBLUE maintains a significant lead over their FNC Entertainment labelmates in the Best Band Performance category with 45.9 percent.
Zion.T and Crush, who wowed listeners with their duet "Just," lead the Best Collaboration category with 24.8 percent of the popular vote.
In the Best Music Video category, Big Bang faces off against strong contenders f(X), SHINee, INFINITE, and Wonder Girls.
Big Bang maintains their lead with 33 percent for their trippy music video, "Bae Bae."
Hallyu fans should note that are other contributing factors that determine MAMA award winners. In 2015, the organizers were transparent in their release of a chart that provides a percentage breakdown for awards and reveals the professions of the judges who are involved in the voting process.
Judges include panelists who are professional critics, concert organizers, journalists, songwriters, and other individuals who are involved in Korean entertainment.
The judging criteria for the UnionPay Artist of the Year award is centered on data 20 percent in online voting, research, the MAMA professional panel, followed by 10 percent in record sales, and the MAMA selection committee.
The online vote accounts for 10 percent in the Song of the Year award category, followed by 20 percent for research or social media impact, the MAMA professional panel, 30 percent for music sales, 10 percent for record sales and the MAMA selection committee.
2015 MAMA has the potential to be the most thrilling year-end program in Korean entertainment after organizers CJ E&M made the unprecedented move to open fan voting in 17 categories. More than 11.1 million votes have been cast, with Chinese delivering a strong showing with 46.9 percent of votes, followed by audiences from South East Asia.
In addition to the divisions coordinated by Mnet, audiences have the opportunity to cast their votes in the Chinese-language category, iQIYI Favorite Worldwide Artist, where EXO and Big Bang also hold a significant lead over their competitors.
----
Adrienne Stanley is a contributing editor at KDramaStars. She is also a contributing music writer at KpopStarz, MTV Iggy and other publications. When she is not listening to "Rhythm Ta," she can be found on Twitter. (@retrogirladdy).
