K-Pop Acts Win 17 Trophies at the 40th Japan Gold Disc Awards — Stray Kids Lead With Four

2026-kpop-stray-kids

K-Pop Acts Claim 17 of Approximately 60 Trophies at the 40th Japan Gold Disc Awards

The Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) announced the winners of the 40th Japan Gold Disc Awards on March 11, 2026. The ceremony, which recognizes sales performance based on data from January 1 to December 31, 2025, distributed trophies across roughly 60 individual category slots spanning Japanese, Western, and Asian divisions. Of these, K-pop artists and groups with Korean entertainment industry connections accounted for 17 trophies. This figure includes awards given to groups formed under the K-pop training system but based outside South Korea, such as KATSEYE (HYBE/Geffen Records, based in the U.S.) and &TEAM (YX Labels, HYBE's Japan-based subsidiary). The 17-trophy count represents approximately 28 percent of total awards distributed.

Stray Kids Win Four Awards — Most by Any
Overseas Artist at This Year's Ceremony

Stray Kids received four trophies, the highest count among all overseas (non-Japanese) artists at this year's awards. Their wins comprised Best Asian Artist, Album of the Year (Asia) for the Japanese mini album "Hollow," Best 3 Albums (Asia) for the same release, and Music Video of the Year (Asia) for "Stray Kids Fan Connecting 2024 'SKZ TOY WORLD.'" The group's four wins were concentrated in the Asia category, which covers releases by non-Japanese, non-Western artists sold in Japan. According to the Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo, this marked the most trophies won by any foreign act at a single edition of the Japan Gold Disc Awards.

Other male K-pop groups winning in the Asia division included SEVENTEEN, who earned Best 3 Albums (Asia) for their Korean album "HAPPY BURSTDAY," and Tomorrow X Together, who won the same category for their Japanese album "Starkissed." In the new artist categories, TWS won New Artist of the Year (Asia) and Best 3 New Artists (Asia), while ILLIT and PLAVE each received Best 3 New Artists (Asia) trophies. HUNTR/X, a group from the animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" that includes Korean-American and Asian-American vocalists, won both Song of the Year by Download (Asia) and Song of the Year by Streaming (Asia) for "Golden."

Jennie, KATSEYE, and &TEAM: K-Pop's Reach Beyond the Asia Category

Several awards went to K-pop-connected artists in categories outside the dedicated Asia division. BLACKPINK's Jennie won Song of the Year by Download (Western) for her solo track "like JENNIE," classified in the Western category due to her release through a U.S.-based label. KATSEYE, the multinational girl group formed through HYBE and Geffen Records' survival program "The Debut: Dream Academy," won New Artist of the Year (Western) and Best 3 New Artists (Western). While KATSEYE is officially positioned as a global pop act rather than a K-pop group, the group was formed using the K-pop trainee system, and one member (Yoonchae) is Korean. &TEAM, HYBE's Japan-based boy group composed primarily of Japanese members with one Korean and one Taiwanese member, won two awards in the Japanese categories: Best 5 Albums for "Back to Life" and Best 5 Singles for "Go in Blind."

In my assessment, the distribution of these 17 trophies across Asia, Western, and Japanese categories illustrates how the boundaries of "K-pop" at the Japan Gold Disc Awards have become increasingly difficult to define. Groups like KATSEYE and &TEAM do not fit neatly into the Asia category, yet their formation through Korean entertainment infrastructure means their success is functionally tied to the K-pop system. The RIAJ's category assignments — placing Jennie in Western and &TEAM in Japanese — reflect market-based classification rather than artistic origin, which means the actual cultural influence of Korean-trained acts at this ceremony is broader than any single category suggests.

What 17 Out of 60 Trophies Signals for K-Pop's Position in the Japanese Market

The Japan Gold Disc Awards are sales-based, not vote-based, which means these results reflect actual commercial transactions in the Japanese market during 2025. Stray Kids' four wins were driven by the performance of "Hollow," a Japan-specific release, while SEVENTEEN's win for "HAPPY BURSTDAY" was based on a Korean album's sales in Japan. This distinction matters: Japan remains the world's second-largest music market, and K-pop acts' ability to win across both locally produced releases and imported Korean albums demonstrates dual-market penetration rather than reliance on a single release strategy.

In my assessment, the 17-trophy figure is significant but requires context. The Japan Gold Disc Awards distribute a large number of category-specific prizes, meaning the per-trophy threshold is lower than at ceremonies with fewer total awards. Nonetheless, the consistency of K-pop representation across artist, album, single, music video, new artist, download, and streaming categories suggests that Korean entertainment's footprint in Japan is structurally embedded rather than concentrated in a single format. The inclusion of TWS, ILLIT, and PLAVE in the new artist categories also indicates that the pipeline of K-pop acts achieving commercial relevance in Japan is expanding, not plateauing.