When the 33rd Hanteo Music Awards 2025 took over KSPO Dome on February 15, 2026, it wasn’t just another trophy night—it was a status check on who truly ruled K-pop in 2025. ATEEZ walked away with the coveted Best Artist (Daesang), while Stray Kids not only secured the Best Album (Daesang) with KARMA but also emerged as the night’s most awarded act, cementing their reputation as a global powerhouse.
The ceremony, presented by Hanteo Global, evaluated releases from January 1 to December 31, 2025, turning real sales, chart data, and fan power into hardware.
A Single Night, A Full Year of K-Pop
Unlike previous years where HMA was split into two days, the 33rd edition was condensed into one packed show at KSPO Dome in Seoul.
The lineup reflected how wide K-pop stretched in 2025: veterans and rookies sharing the same stage—ATEEZ, Stray Kids, ENHYPEN, BTS’s G-Dragon, Hearts2Hearts, tripleS, PENTAGON, ARTMS, EVNNE, WEi, xikers, and more. Performances moved from intense, choreography-heavy stages to more band-or ballad-driven sets, mirroring the variety of what charted last year.
Hanteo’s identity as a data-based chart system also shaped the mood. Every big win felt like a combination of fandom power, touring, and global reach, not just industry politics.
ATEEZ Breaks the “Seven-Year Curse”
For ATEEZ, the Best Artist (Daesang) was more than just another line in their resume—it was a symbolic breakthrough. The group, already known for their relentless touring and performance intensity, finally secured one of Korea’s major Artist Daesangs at a general music awards show.
Korean media framed it as conquering the so-called “seven-year curse,” referencing how many groups struggle to break into true top-tier status several years into their career. Winning Best Artist at HMA 2025 signaled that ATEEZ’s rise wasn’t a temporary surge; it was proof that their steady climb, global touring, and increasingly ambitious albums had pushed them firmly into the A-list.
On stage, their Daesang acceptance speech echoed themes fans know well: thanking Atiny for staying with them through small venues, world tours, and multiple concept shifts. Paired with a high-octane performance, the night felt like a reward for both the group and the fandom that turned every release into a global event.
Stray Kids: Album Daesang and a Global Clean Sweep
If ATEEZ claimed the “artist” crown, Stray Kids owned the numbers game. Their album KARMA took home Best Album (Daesang), recognizing its domination in sales and charting over 2025.
But that was only the beginning. Stray Kids also swept four continental Global Artist awards—for North America, South America, Europe, and Africa—showing just how wide their reach has become. With these plus additional trophies, they ended the night as the ceremony’s most decorated act, with six total awards.
That Daesang was historically important too. Industry coverage highlighted that this Album Daesang pushed Stray Kids’ total number of Daesangs to 19, making them the 4th-gen group with the most grand prizes and even the JYP act with the most Daesangs ever.
Onstage, their performance felt like a victory lap: heavy choreography, live-band energy, and the kind of crowd sing-along that proves their songs have moved far beyond fandom circles into mainstream recognition.
ENHYPEN and G-Dragon: Completing the Daesang Picture
The Daesang slate at the 33rd Hanteo Music Awards was intentionally diversified, splitting the top honors across different strengths of the industry.
Performance Daesang – ENHYPEN
ENHYPEN earned the Best Performance (Daesang), underlining their position as one of the tightest stage teams of their generation. HMA’s performance category favors groups who consistently deliver strong stages, whether on music shows, tours, or festivals—and ENHYPEN’s 2025 run, including THE SIN : VANISH and its theatrical staging, made them a natural pick.
Song Daesang – G-Dragon
For Best Song (Daesang), Hanteo looked toward a legend: G-Dragon, with “Too Bad” (featuring Anderson .Paak). The digital-heavy category rewarded a track that cut across demographics and platforms, marking G-Dragon’s high-profile return to the awards circuit and highlighting how a veteran can still shape the sound of a year dominated by younger groups.
Together, these four Daesangs—Artist (ATEEZ), Album (Stray Kids), Performance (ENHYPEN), and Song (G-Dragon)—painted a balanced picture of K-pop in 2025: powerful performances, massive albums, and a digital hit that defined the year.
Bonsangs and Big Names: How the Main Awards Shook Out
Beyond the Daesangs, the Artist of the Year (Bonsang) lineup read like a who’s who of 4th and 5th-gen heavy hitters and legends:
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aespa
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ATEEZ
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BOYNEXTDOOR
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ENHYPEN
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G-Dragon
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Lee Chan-won
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NCT WISH
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PLAVE
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SEVENTEEN
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Stray Kids
This mix of boy groups, girl groups, soloists, and virtual/AI-linked acts (like PLAVE) showed how diverse the modern “mainstream” actually is. Bonsangs at HMA are strongly tied to Hanteo’s data, so each name on that list represents strong physical sales combined with significant listener interest.
Global Popular Artist went to BTS, a reminder that even while members focus on solo activities and military service, their global presence and catalog strength remain unmatched.
Rookies, Virtual Idols, and the Future of K-Pop
One of the most interesting parts of HMA 2025 was how it framed the future of K-pop.
Rookie of the Year: Hearts2Hearts and CORTIS
Rookie of the Year was split between Hearts2Hearts and CORTIS, confirming them as the representative rookie acts of the 2025 debut line-up.
For Hearts2Hearts, the HMA rookie trophy also marked their ninth rookie award overall—a record for 2025 debut groups—after sweeping newcomer categories at other major shows like MAMA and MMA.
Emerging Artists: ARTMS and EVNNE
The Emerging Artist category went to ARTMS and EVNNE, spotlighting acts that may not yet match top-tier sales but are clearly gaining momentum, building passionate fandoms and strong music identities.
Together, these wins emphasized how HMA doesn’t just reward what’s already at the top—it also tracks which names are likely to dominate the next few years.
Data, Voting, and the “Globalization” of HMA
The 33rd Hanteo Music Awards leaned heavily into its identity as a global, fan-driven, data-backed ceremony:
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Eligibility was strictly tied to releases from 2025, keeping the focus on one clean tracking period.
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Global Artist and popularity categories combined Hanteo Global scores with app-based voting, turning fan engagement into measurable impact.
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Stray Kids’ sweep of the continental Global Artist awards underscored how HMA now reads the map of K-pop influence by region, not just by general “overseas popularity.”
That structure matters. It means wins at HMA can be read as hard proof of both fandom strength and actual consumption behavior, rather than just vague “trendiness.”
What This Night Means for the 4th and 5th Generations
Looking at the final scoreboard, a few clear narratives emerge:
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ATEEZ has crossed the line into undisputed top-tier.
Their Artist Daesang places them firmly among the core leaders of their generation, right alongside groups like Stray Kids and SEVENTEEN, who have dominated previous years’ award circuits. -
Stray Kids are now the reference point for “global K-pop act.”
The combination of Album Daesang, six HMA trophies, and record-breaking Daesang totals reinforces their position as the most decorated 4th-gen act and a long-term benchmark for future groups. -
ENHYPEN and G-Dragon balance new and legacy power.
A performance Daesang for ENHYPEN acknowledges where the next wave of arena-level performers is headed, while a song Daesang for G-Dragon reminds everyone that veteran idols still shape K-pop’s creative direction. -
Rookies like Hearts2Hearts and CORTIS are already being positioned as future headliners.
With rookie wins at HMA on top of their growing trophy collections elsewhere, these groups are stepping into the same trajectory that once belonged to today’s Daesang-tier acts.
Final Thoughts: One Night, Many Crowns
The 33rd Hanteo Music Awards 2025 didn’t belong to just one artist—it was shared among several leaders, each crowned in their own lane. ATEEZ emerged as the year’s defining artist, Stray Kids as the album and global kings, ENHYPEN as stage dominators, and G-Dragon as the veteran hitmaker of 2025.
Add in rookie queens and kings like Hearts2Hearts and CORTIS plus rising forces like ARTMS and EVNNE, and HMA 2025 reads like a snapshot of where K-pop is headed: more global, more competitive, and more diverse than ever—yet still driven by passionate fandoms whose votes and purchases literally shape nights like this.
