MUSIC
K-Pop Stars Compete in January's 'TENASIA ARTIST TOP TEN' Voting
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, will vie for the top spot in their respective categories.
The voting for January will take place from midnight on the 8th until 11:59 PM on the 21st.
The 'ARTIST TOP TEN' global voting is divided into three categories: K-POP BOY BRAND, K-POP GIRL BRAND, and HOT GENRE BRAND.
In the K-POP GIRL BRAND category, 20 teams including Hearts2Hearts, Kim Sejeong, i-dle, IU, ILLIT, Girls' Generation, TWICE, BABYMONSTER, MAMAMOO, Oh My Girl, Dreamcatcher, ITZY, IVE, Red Velvet, tripleS, NiziU, fromis_9, BLACKPINK, Soyou, and EXID will compete.
Particularly noteworthy are the recent activities of Hearts2Hearts and Kim Sejeong. Hearts2Hearts was recently chosen as the new face and official model for Lotte Duty Free alongside the group KickFlip. They will hold the '2026 Hearts2Hearts FANMEETING' at the Olympic Hall in Seoul on February 21st and 22nd. Additionally, they will host the '2026 Hearts2Hearts Premiere Showcase in North America' in New York on March 19th and in LA on March 22nd, followed by a fan meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia on March 28th.
Kim Sejeong, alongside actor Kang Tae-oh, won the Best Couple Award at the '2025 MBC Drama Awards' held on December 30th at the MBC Media Center in Sangam-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul. Kim Sejeong and Kang Tae-oh starred together in the MBC drama 'Moon River'. In her acceptance speech, Kim Sejeong expressed, "(Kang Tae-oh) was like a honeybee to me. I was just there, but he brought my lines and ideas to life, turning 'Moon River' into a field of flowers. I was truly happy to work with such a sweet and wonderful actor."
The 'ARTIST TOP TEN' voting is conducted through the TENASIA voting service. Rankings are determined 100% by the voting scores from the TENASIA application. After the monthly voting concludes, the artists with the highest combined fan voting scores are selected as the TOP 10. The voting page also features an event where participants receive one heart daily for checking in.
Candidates for the K-POP BOY BRAND and K-POP GIRL BRAND categories are selected from the top 20 teams on the monthly Melon Chart and Idol Champ Chart. Candidates for the HOT GENRE BRAND category are chosen from the top 20 teams on the monthly Melon Chart and Celeb Champ Chart.
Artists who make it into the 'ARTIST TOP TEN' receive benefits such as a special feature article linked to their final ranking, promotion on the TENASIA website, and inclusion in the following month's 'ARTIST TOP TEN' candidates (limited to the artist ranked first).
By Lee Min-Kyung, TENASIA Reporter 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr
