The 2023 MAMA Awards wrapped up its two-day ceremony with special performances and live speeches by K-pop stars at the Tokyo Dome, in front of 80,000 audience members.

The event was streamed live for people from 200 countries around the world under the slogan "One I Born," symbolizing how each unique individual — referred to as the "one" and only "I" — is born and united through the power of music.

The spotlight of this year's event went to HYBE artists, signed under the different labels of the K-pop powerhouse, with four of MAMA's biggest honors going to Seventeen, BTS and NewJeans.

BTS won its sixth Worldwide Icon of the Year award at the 2023 MAMA Awards on Tuesday, one of the awards' top honors.

"Our ARMY, who always sends us unwavering love, thank you very, very much," BTS's Jungkook said in a video message. BTS could not attend this year's MAMA due to many of the members serving in the military.

ARMY is the name of the band's official fan club.

"I'm sad that we couldn't meet in person today, but you know we'll soon meet as bigger selves, right?"

Jungkook also received the award for Best Dance Performance Male Solo. He also won Best Collaboration with "Seven," for which he collaborated with American rapper Latto.

Jungkook's bandmates, Suga and Jimin, also won awards. Suga won Best Rap & Hip Hop Performance under his alter-stage name Agust D, while Jimin won Best Male Artist. BTS as a whole won Best OST for "The Planet," part of the soundtrack for SBS's animation series "Bastions."

Of the remaining top honors, Album of the Year went to boy band Seventeen for its 10th EP "FML," released last April. The award is the band's first top honor from the ceremony since its debut in 2015.

"We attended our first MAMA in the year we debuted in 2015, returning with empty hands," Hoshi said. "We are so thrilled now to take home Album of the Year after nine years, and we would like to give the honor to Carat."

Carat is the band's official fandom.

Seventeen also won Best Dance Performance Male Group, Best Male Group and bibigo Culture & Style.

The other two top honors — Artist of the Year and Song of the Year — went to girl group NewJeans, which did not attend the award ceremony. The group also won Best Female Group and Best Dance Performance Female Group.

Boy band ZeroBaseOne took home Best New Male Artist. Best New Female Artist went to girl group tripleS.

"We are grateful to win Best New Male Artist, which is a once-in-a-lifetime award," Park Gunwook from ZeroBaseOne said after winning the award. "We are truly thankful to Ze_rose for allowing us to receive this award."

Ze_rose is the official fan club of the boy band.

The Worldwide Fans' Choice award, which is awarded based on fan votes, was given to 10 artists: Tomorrow X Together, BTS, ZeroBaseOne, Enhypen, Lim Young-woong, Ateez, NCT Dream, Stray Kids, Seventeen and Twice.

"Worldwide Fans' Choice, it's self-explanatory," Mark of NCT Dream said. "You guys chose us. We didn't choose this. You guys gave it to us. Thank you so much. We do not take it for granted."

Jisoo of Blackpink won Best Dance Performance Female Solo, Best Female Artist and Best Music Video. Boy band Treasure won Favorite Dance Performance Male Group, its second award from the MAMAs. The band won Galaxy Neo Flip Artist Award on Tuesday.

Boy bands ZeroBaseOne and Riize won Favorite New Artist, which is given to rookies who sold over 1 million copies of an album in their debut year.

Yoshiki, a Japanese musician, won Favorite International Artist, and boy band TVXQ won Inspiring Achievement.

Boy band INI, which was formed through the second season of CJ ENM's audition program series "Produce 101 Japan" (2021), won Favorite Asian Male Group. The Favorite Asian Female Group went to Kep1er.

Other awards include: Girl group Le Sserafim for Favorite Dance Performance Female Group; (G)I-DLE for Favorite Global Performer Female Group; Ateez for Favorite Global Performer Male Group; AKMU for Best Vocal Performance Group; Parc Jae-jung for Best Vocal Performance Solo.

A number of K-pop artists took the stage for performances during the event, including Enhypen, Kep1er, Tomorrow X Together, Jeon Somi, Ateez, Treasure, Riize, (G)I-DLE, Le Sserafim and Seventeen.

The ceremony was hosted by singer Jeon Somi on the first day and actor Park Bo-gum the second day.

The two-day event, held at one of Japan's largest indoor music venues, Tokyo Dome, also featured a star-studded lineup of presenters, including actors Yoo Yeon-seok, Ryu Seung-ryong, Park Eun-bin, Cha Seung-won, and singer and actor Lee Jun-ho and Uhm Jung-hwa.

The event was broadcast on Mnet and streamed live worldwide through the YouTube channels Mnet K-POP, Mnet TV, KCON official and M2.

To find out more about K-pop Artists, visit Celeb Confirmed!


BY YOON SO-YEON, KIM JI-YE [yoon.soyeon@joongang.co.kr]