Stray Kids, G-Dragon, Jennie take home wins at Golden Disc Awards in Taipei

Stray Kids poses for photos on the red carpet at the Golden Disc Awards at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan, on Jan. 10. [HLL JOONGANG]

 
Boy band Stray Kids stood tall after winning the Grand Prize for Album of the Year for its fourth full-length release “Karma” (2025) at the 40th Golden Disc Awards.
 
This year's Golden Disc Awards was held at Taipei Dome in Taipei, Taiwan, where the boy band took home the top honor.
 

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Stray Kids demonstrated its stature as a leading K-pop act by ranking first in cumulative album sales in the United States in 2025 based on a single album, according to the event's organizers. 
 
“Winning a main prize was our goal and our dream, but we never imagined the day would come when we would be giving an acceptance speech for the grand prize,” the group said, expressing its excitement.
 
“Over the past eight years as Stray Kids, we’ve shared so many moments of laughter and tears with STAY [the group’s fandom],” the members added. “We will continue to make great memories with STAY and set even more meaningful records together.”
 
The Grand Prize for Digital Song of the Year went to G-Dragon for “Home Sweet Home” (2025). Although the artist was unable to attend the ceremony in person, G-Dragon said in a video message that he plans to return this year with fellow Big Bang members, hinting at a comeback.
 

Stray Kids deliver their acceptance speech after winning the Album of the Year award at the Golden Disc Awards on Jan. 10. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

 
The Grand Prize for Artist of the Year, a newly introduced category this year, was awarded to Jennie. The category was created to reflect the global influence and musical achievements of K-pop artists in the international music market. Jennie also won the Digital Song prize for “Like Jennie" (2025), a track named after herself, as well as the Global Impact Award, earning three trophies in total.
 
“In a year that marks the 10th anniversary of my debut, I feel incredibly happy to be closer to my dream,” Jennie said in her acceptance speech. She also thanked the dancers who practiced with her every day over the past two months.
 
Jennie also commanded attention with her stage performance. Dressed in an all-black outfit accented with red, she performed “Filter” (2025), “Damn Right”(2025) and “Like Jennie” alongside dancers in red costumes, drawing enthusiastic cheers from the audience.
 

Jennie attends the red carpet event at the Golden Disc Awards on Jan. 10. [HLL JOONGANG]

 
The rookie awards went to Cortis and All Day Project. All Day Project, which also won a digital song main prize, said it was honored to receive a once-in-a-lifetime rookie award on such a major stage and promised to continue showing its best side. Cortis said it was delighted to receive such a meaningful award and expressed love for its fandom, Core.
 
This year's Golden Disc Awards considered albums and songs released between early November 2024 and late October 2025. Winners were selected based on a combination of statistics, with quantitative evaluation — including album sales and digital usage tallied through Nov. 30, 2025 — accounting for 60 percent and expert evaluations accounting for 40 percent. 
 
The judging panel consisted of members of the Golden Disc Awards executive committee, music journalists, music program producers, pop music critics and domestic distribution industry officials.
 
The ceremony was streamed live exclusively on platform Naver Chzzk and will be broadcast on a delayed basis at 2 p.m. on Jan. 17 on JTBC2 and JTBC4.


This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY CHOI MIN-JI [kim.minyoung5@joongang.co.kr]