K-Pop Stars Battle for Top Spot in January's 'TENASIA ARTIST TOP TEN' Voting

The voting for January's 'TENASIA ARTIST TOP TEN' has officially begun, igniting a fierce popularity contest among beloved artists like former Wanna One members Ha Sung-woon and Kang Daniel.

Organized by TENASIA, the 'Artist Top Ten' is a monthly competition that selects the most buzzworthy domestic artists. Male and female K-pop idols, as well as artists from various genres such as indie, mixed groups, and ballads, compete for the top spot in their respective categories.

This month's voting runs from January 8th at midnight until January 21st at 11:59 PM.

The global voting for 'Artist Top Ten' is divided into three categories: K-POP BOY BRAND, K-POP GIRL BRAND, and HOT GENRE BRAND.

In the K-POP BOY BRAND category, 20 teams are nominated, including Ha Sung-woon, Kang Daniel, BTS, Stray Kids, 2AM, RIIZE, TREASURE, SEVENTEEN, Lee Junho, ENHYPEN, ATEEZ, Super Junior, Kim Jae-hwan, Chuei Li Yu, FT ISLAND, TOMORROW X TOGETHER, JD1, EXO, GOT7, and NCT DREAM.

Ha Sung-woon and Kang Daniel have garnered additional attention following news of a potential Wanna One reunion. Both artists were part of Wanna One and are reportedly reuniting for Mnet's reality program 'Wanna One Go.'

Ha Sung-woon released a digital single titled 'Tell The World' on January 5th. The song is an alternative pop track featuring a lyrical piano riff and dreamy string sounds reminiscent of a movie scene. He gave fans a surprise preview of the song during his fan meeting on December 30th and 31st.

Kang Daniel hinted at his partial involvement in a project through the fan community platform b.stage on January 2nd, saying, "I might just do the intro next year...?" He later clarified that 'next year' refers to this year, with 'studying abroad' speculated to mean military enlistment.

Voting for 'Artist Top Ten' is conducted through the TENASIA voting service, with rankings determined entirely by votes cast via the TENASIA app. After voting concludes each month, the top 10 artists are selected based on the highest cumulative fan votes. The voting page also offers a daily heart gift event for attendance check-ins.

Nominees for the K-POP BOY BRAND and K-POP GIRL BRAND categories are selected from the top 20 artists on the monthly Melon Chart and Idol Champ Chart. The HOT GENRE BRAND nominees are chosen from the top 20 artists on the monthly Melon Chart and Celeb Champ Chart.

Artists who make it to the 'Artist Top Ten' receive benefits such as a special feature article, promotion on the TENASIA website, and inclusion in the following month's Artist Top Ten nominees (limited to the 1st place artist).

By Min-Kyung Lee, TENASIA Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr