The Melon Music Award for Song of the Year is one of the awards from the annual Melon Music Awards, an event that uses data from Melon's streaming service to celebrate artists who have had exceptional performance during the year.[1] The Song of the Year category recognizes the top performing single in South Korea based on various metrics such as digital performance, voting, and judge evaluation.
From 2005 to 2008, awards for best song of the year were based entirely on online voting and were announced on Melon's website. Live ceremonies began in Seoul starting in 2009, with Song of the Year becoming one of the ceremonies' daesang (grand prize) awards.[2][3] The award is determined through several criteria; as of 2021, 60% of the evaluation is based on figures for digital downloads and streaming, 20% from the evaluation of a panel of judges, and 20% from online voting.[4]
The artist with the most Song of the Year awards is BTS, having won four times in 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021 with "Spring Day", "Boy with Luv", "Dynamite" and "Butter", respectively. Wonder Girls received the award twice during its online period, with "Tell Me" and "So Hot" receiving the most votes in 2007 and 2008, respectively. IU has the most nominations in the category with seven nominations, winning once for "Good Day" in 2011.
^Lee, Soo-hyun (November 19, 2009). 음원 이용자가 뽑는 멜론뮤직어워드 등장 [Melon Music Awards chosen by music users appears]. Star News (in Korean). Archived from the original on February 4, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022 – via Naver.
^Kim, Hyung-woo (December 16, 2009). 소녀시대‘Gee’ MMA 대상 올해의 노래상 수상 ‘6관왕’ 기염 [Girls' Generation's 'Gee' won the Song of the Year award at the MMA Awards 'six crowns']. Newsen. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
^[2010 MMA] 2010 멜론뮤직어워드 – 2부 (Online broadcast) (in Korean). Melon. December 17, 2010. Event occurs at 66:35. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
^Kim, Eun-goo (November 24, 2011). [2011 MMA]아이유 베스트송상 수상 '좋은 날~' [[2011 MMA] IU wins Best Song Award for 'Good Day~']. Edaily (in Korean). Archived from the original on May 11, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
^Kim, Eun-goo (November 14, 2013). 엑소, 멜론어워드 '올해의 베스트송'…데뷔 2년만에 대상 [Exo wins Melon Awards 'Best Song of the Year' ... first daesang in 2 years since debut]. Edaily (in Korean). Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2022 – via Naver.
^Jung, Ji-won (November 13, 2014). 태양 '눈코입' MMA 올해의 베스트송, 2관왕 저력 [Taeyang's 'Eyes, Nose, Lips' wins MMA best song of the year, 2 wins possible]. Newsen (in Korean). Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved November 29, 2021.
^Eun-ho, Lee (December 2, 2017). [멜론뮤직어워드] 방탄소년단 ‘봄날’, 올해의 베스트송 [[Melon Music Awards] BTS 'Spring Day' wins Best Song of the Year]. BizEnter. Archived from the original on May 26, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2022.
^Lee, Min-ji (November 30, 2019). 방탄소년단, 올해의 베스트송 영예 '작은게 꼭 나쁜건 아냐'[멜론뮤직어워드] [BTS wins Best Song of the Year Award with 'Boy with Luv' [Melon Music Awards]]. Newsen (in Korean). Archived from the original on May 21, 2022. Retrieved May 21, 2022 – via Naver.
^Jung, Hyun-tae (November 26, 2022). [POP이슈]"'러브다이브' 때 '어텐션' 노래가.." MMA2022, 후보 소개 오점 [[Pop Issue] "'Attention' played instead of 'Love Dive'..." MMA2022, five mistakes when introducing candidates]. Herald Pop (in Korean). Naver. Retrieved November 26, 2022.
^"에스파, 대상 3개 싹쓸이 '7관왕'…(여자)아이들, 대상 소감 중 "재계약 완료" 발표 [MMA 2024](종합)" [Espa, sweeping 3 grand prizes, '7 crowns'... (G)I-dle, "Contract renewal completed" announced during grand prize acceptance speech [MMA 2024] (Comprehensive)]. My Daily. November 30, 2024. Archived from the original on November 30, 2024. Retrieved November 30, 2024.