BTS won their first MAMA Daesang (Grand Prize) award in 2016. At the 2016 Mnet Asian Music Awards, held in Hong Kong, BTS received Artist of the Year, one of MAMA’s major Daesang categories.
The award marked a major turning point for BTS, who had debuted in 2013 under Big Hit Entertainment. Their 2016 releases, including the album Wings and the hit song “Blood Sweat & Tears,” helped establish them as one of K-pop’s leading acts. BTS had already won its first-ever Daesang earlier that year at the 2016 Melon Music Awards, where The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever received Album of the Year.
A common mix-up is confusing the 2016 MAMA win with BTS’s first Daesang overall. The first Daesang came at the Melon Music Awards, while the first MAMA Daesang came shortly afterward at MAMA. BTS later became a dominant force at the ceremony, winning multiple MAMA grand prizes across Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Worldwide Icon of the Year.