How to Vote in the 2026 MAMA Awards | Fans' Choice Dates, Mnet Plus and X Rules

Every autumn the same questions flood fan group chats: when does MAMA voting close, which app counts, and does posting on X actually do anything? This year, the first round of the 2026 MAMA Awards Fans' Choice vote closes on October 22 at 11:59 p.m. Korea time; round two does not open until October 28.

This guide collects the official schedule, the two voting platforms (Mnet Plus and X), the rules people most often get wrong, and the overlapping Melon Music Awards (MMA2026) vote. Everything is as of October 19, 2026, from the organizers' notices where possible; figures that come only from press reports are labeled.

Key takeaways

Fans' Choice Male/Female voting runs in two rounds: October 12-22 and October 28-November 8, 2026 (Korea Standard Time), on Mnet Plus and X only.
Press reports put the weighting at 90% Mnet Plus and 10% X, so the app vote carries far more weight than hashtags.
On X, only one public post per account per day counts, and it needs both #2026MAMAVOTE and the artist's official hashtag.

Contents

The 2026 voting calendar, in your time zone
What Fans' Choice is and how votes are weighted
How to vote on Mnet Plus
How to vote on X
Mistakes that waste a vote
Also open now: Melon Music Awards voting
Watching the show and MAMA FAN FESTA
FAQ
Conclusion
Sources

1. The 2026 voting calendar, in your time zone

CJ ENM's music channel Mnet published the schedule on the official MAMA AWARDS X account on October 12, right after the nominees broadcast. Times are Korea Standard Time (KST), UTC+9 all year, since Korea has no daylight saving time.

Round dates with conversions

Round	Opens (KST)	Closes (KST)	Closes (UTC)	Closes (US Eastern)
1st vote	Oct 12, 7:00 p.m.	Oct 22, 11:59 p.m.	Oct 22, 2:59 p.m.	Oct 22, 10:59 a.m. (EDT)
Break	October 23-27: no Fans' Choice voting window
2nd vote	Oct 28, 6:00 p.m.	Nov 8, 11:59 p.m.	Nov 8, 2:59 p.m.	Nov 8, 9:59 a.m. (EST)

Round two opens at 9:00 a.m. UTC on October 28 (5:00 a.m. in New York). The Eastern column shifts by an hour between rounds because U.S. clocks fall back on November 1, 2026; in Europe that happens on October 25. Korea's clocks do not change.

One date you may see that is wrong

At least one widely read English report gave November 18 as the end of round two. The organizer's notices and both of its voting guides say November 8. Go by November 8.

2. What Fans' Choice is and how votes are weighted

Most MAMA trophies are decided by streaming, sales and a judging panel. The public vote decides the Fans' Choice categories: Fans' Choice Male and Fans' Choice Female (often called the Top 10 awards), plus the grand prize Fans' Choice of the Year. To be eligible, music had to be released between October 1, 2025 and September 30, 2026, according to Soompi.

The reported weighting

The official voting notice names the platforms and the data sources (Circle Chart for streaming and sales, X for "SNS voting data") but does not print percentages. Soompi's October 12 report on the nominees gives these figures, and Wikipedia's page for the ceremony lists the same split:

Fans' Choice Male/Female, rounds 1 and 2: 90% Mnet Plus votes, 10% X votes.
Fans' Choice of the Year: 90% Mnet Plus, 10% X, plus an extra 10% from live Mnet Plus voting during the broadcast.
Who moves on: the top 20 artists in each of the male and female categories advance from round one to round two.

Wikipedia also notes, citing the organizer's X account, that Fans' Choice of the Year voting runs alongside round two and reopens during the live show on November 20. In practice, round one decides who stays in the race, and the app carries most of the weight.

3. How to vote on Mnet Plus

Mnet Plus is CJ ENM's global K-pop platform and the ceremony's worldwide stream. The organizer's guide tells voters to "get all the details on Mnet Plus App": the number of picks and daily limits appear on the vote screen and can differ between rounds. The general path, based on the official notices and the in-app route artists' official accounts shared on launch day:

Install the official app. Use the App Store or Google Play link on the official Mnet Plus site (mnetplus.world) rather than a search result, and avoid third-party "voting helper" apps.
Create an account and remember how you signed in. If you sign up with one login method on your phone and another on a tablet, you may end up with two separate accounts and split your votes.
Open the MAMA voting section. Go to MAMA VOTE, then FANS' CHOICE, and choose the Male or Female category.
Read the rule text at the top of the screen. It states how many artists you can pick and how often you can vote in the current round.
Select and submit. Tapping an artist is not the same as voting; wait for the completion message. Side missions or reward events are not Fans' Choice votes.
Find the official hashtag while you are there. The X vote requires each artist's official tag, and the organizer says those tags are listed on Mnet Plus.

4. How to vote on X

The X vote carries less weight but has stricter formatting. Korean outlet PacPik checked the organizer's October 12 X guide; the first-round conditions are:

Use a public account. Votes from protected (private) accounts are not counted.
Include two hashtags: #2026MAMAVOTE and the nominee's official hashtag. A general tag such as #2026MAMA alone does not qualify.
One artist per post. A post that tags two or more nominees is invalid.
One vote per account per day (KST). If you post several times, only the first valid post that day counts, across both the male and female categories.
Reposts count if the original post is valid, but they use up the same single daily vote.
Case does not matter in the artist tag, but spelling does. Copy it from Mnet Plus rather than typing it from memory.

PacPik stresses that these are round-one rules and that round two could be adjusted, so re-read the organizer's guide when voting reopens on October 28.

5. Mistakes that waste a vote

Most lost votes come from small slips that follow directly from the rules above:

Mistake	Why it costs you	Fix
Counting the deadline in local time	Round one closes at 11:59 p.m. KST, which is morning or midday in Europe and the Americas	Convert once and set a phone alarm
Voting only on X	Reported weight is 10% X versus 90% Mnet Plus	Do the app vote first
Posting from a private X account	Only public accounts are counted	Check privacy settings before posting
Fan-made or misspelled hashtags	The post does not meet the official format	Copy the tag from Mnet Plus
Not finishing the app submission	A selection without a completion message may not register	Wait for the confirmation screen
Sharing logins or buying "vote services"	Risks account bans and stolen accounts	Vote only from your own account

Our view: if you have five minutes a day, spend four on the app. The X vote is worth doing, but the reported weighting makes Mnet Plus the deciding platform.

6. Also open now: Melon Music Awards voting

MAMA is not the only show asking for votes. The 18th Melon Music Awards (MMA2026), run by Kakao Entertainment's streaming service Melon, takes place on November 14 and 15 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul, its first two-day edition. Its TOP10 vote opened on October 15 with 30 nominees.

	2026 MAMA Awards	MMA2026
Show dates	Nov 20-21, Kyocera Dome Osaka	Nov 14-15, Gocheok Sky Dome, Seoul
Fan vote windows	Oct 12-22 and Oct 28-Nov 8	TOP10: Oct 15-29; category voting: Oct 30-Nov 13
Where to vote	Mnet Plus and X	Melon's MMA2026 page (see link below)
How much votes count	Fans' Choice categories are vote-based (reported 90% app / 10% X)	TOP10: 60% digital, 20% panel, 20% votes
Stream	Mnet Plus, worldwide	YouTube via Melon or 1theK channels (some countries excluded)

Melon also says TOP10 voters are automatically entered into a draw for show invitations: 20 a day, 300 in total, one ticket per winner. If you are thinking of flying to Seoul for MMA, our guides on where to stay in Seoul and setting up an eSIM and T-money card cover the practical side.

7. Watching the show and MAMA FAN FESTA

CJ ENM says the 2026 MAMA Awards, themed "A Music Interstellar" and presented by title sponsor Visa, will stream live worldwide on Mnet Plus. The organizer has announced two "chapters" of performers, one for each night. Check Mnet Plus in the week of the show for broadcast times in your country.

New this year: MAMA FAN FESTA

For the first time, the awards come with a fan festival. According to the organizer, MAMA FAN FESTA runs from November 9 to 21 in Osaka and on Mnet Plus, with on-site and online programs. Ticket presales for the awards started in mid-October through Japanese channels; the official FAQ at 2026mama.com covers presale and festival pass questions, and it is the safest place to check before paying any reseller.

FAQ

Can I vote for MAMA from outside Korea?

Yes. Mnet Plus is a global app and X is available worldwide. The only catch is time: all deadlines are in KST, so convert them before the last day.

Does voting cost money?

The organizer's notices do not mention any fee for Fans' Choice voting. Treat any website that asks for payment to "boost" votes as unofficial.

My artist is not on the round-two list. What happened?

Only the top 20 in each of the male and female categories carry over from round one, according to Soompi. Artists outside that group are not on the round-two ballot.

Conclusion

Round one ends October 22 at 11:59 p.m. KST, round two runs October 28 to November 8, and the show follows on November 20-21 in Osaka. Vote in the Mnet Plus app first, post one correctly tagged public vote on X each day, and re-check the rules when round two opens. MMA's TOP10 vote stays open until October 29. The organizers' channels, linked below, are the final reference.

Korea Vibe Hopper is an independent fan and travel blog with no connection to CJ ENM, Mnet, Kakao Entertainment or Melon.

Sources

By the Korea Vibe Hopper team · Updated October 19, 2026