Jungkook, SEVENTEEN, LE SSERAFIM, and NewJeans win 11 Japanese 'Gold Disk Awards'

Hive Labels artists have been recognized for their achievements in the Japanese music market.

According to the list of winners of the 38th Japan Gold Disk Awards announced by the Japan Recording Industry Association on Wednesday, BTS's Jungkook (Big Hit Music), SEVENTEEN (Pledge Entertainment), LeSeraphim (SoS Music), and NewJins (Adore) took home a total of 11 trophies.

First up, Jungkook won Song of the Year by Download in Asia for his solo single "Seven (feat. Rato)". This is a testament to Jungkook's popularity in Japan as a solo artist as well as a member of BTS, who has won a total of 33 awards at the awards.

"Seven" is a song with an addictive melody, warm acoustic guitar, UK garage-inspired rhythm, and Jungkook's sweet vocals, and it has been hitting major music charts around the world, including Japan, since its release in July last year.

SEVENTEEN (ESCOOPS, JungJung, Joshua, Jun, Hoshi, Wonwoo, Uzi, D.E.A.T., Mingyu, Dogyeom, Seungkwan, Vernon, and Dino) once again proved their meteoric rise to the top of K-pop with their sixth Gold Disk Award at the Japan Gold Disk Awards.

Most notably, SEVENTEEN won the Best Asian Artist category for the first time since their debut, which recognizes the artist with the most outstanding performance of the year. In addition, the group swept the "Best 3 Albums" in the Asian category (below) for their mini 10th album "FML," Japan's Best Album "ALWAYS YOURS," and mini 11th album "SEVENTEENTH HEAVEN," a first in the history of the Japan Gold Disk Award.

In addition, SEVENTEEN also won Album of the Year for "FML" and Music Video of the Year for "SEVENTEEN WORLD TOUR 'BE THE SUN' JAPAN," a live concert video that demonstrated the group's unrivaled popularity in Japan.

Other standout performances were made by LeSeraphim (Kim ChaeWon, Sakura, Heo YoonJin, Kazuha, and Hong EunChae) and NewJins (Minji, Hani, Daniel, Harin, and HyeIn).

Since releasing their Japanese debut single "FEARLESS" in January last year, the group has experienced "stair-step growth" and took home the "New Artist of the Year" and "Best 3 New Artist" trophies.

According to the "Oricon Annual Rankings 2023" (compiled from December 12, 2022 to December 10, 2023), the group topped the "Rookie Rankings" for sales by artist with 2.12 billion yen (approximately KRW 19.3 billion at the time of publication) in Japan from record and music sales. It's the first time since 2003 that an all-female group has surpassed 2 billion yen in sales in this ranking.

Newzine, who has yet to make their official debut in Japan, won Song of the Year for their mega-hit "OMG" and was also named one of the "Best 3 New Artists.

Newzine has been certified "Platinum" (100 million+ streams) by the Japan Record Association for three of their songs ("Ditto," "OMG," and "Hype Boy"), with "Ditto" and "OMG" reaching 100 million cumulative streams on Oricon. They are also the highest-ranked K-pop artists in several categories on the 2023 annual charts released by Oricon and Billboard Japan, respectively.

At the 37th Japan Gold Disc Awards, Hive Labels artists took home a total of eight awards, led by BTS and SEVENTEEN. At the 38th Japan Gold Disk Awards, with all members of BTS fulfilling their military service obligations, it is encouraging to see a more diverse group of artists take home three more trophies than last year. It's a testament to the success of Hive's multi-label strategy, which respects each label's independence and autonomy over their creative output.

Meanwhile, the Japan Gold Disc Awards is one of the most prestigious awards ceremonies in the Japanese music industry, held annually by the Japan Record Association to recognize artists and works that have made significant contributions to the development of the music industry. Winners and honorees are selected based on net sales of CDs, videos, etc. (total shipments minus returns), music transmission sales, and streaming playback.