The 26th

Golden Disc Awards The Golden Disc Awards (, formerly spelled the Golden Disk Awards before 2015) is an annual South Korean major music awards ceremony that honors achievements in the local music industry. The awards ceremony was founded with the purpose to prom ...

took place on January 11–12, 2012, at the

Kyocera Dome The (official name: ) is a baseball stadium located in Osaka, Osaka, Japan. Opened in 1997, the stadium was the home field of the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes. In 2005, the stadium became one of the homes of the Orix Buffaloes, a result of the merg ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. It honored the best in South Korean music released from January 1, 2011, through November 30, 2011. The event was held outside South Korea for the first time in the ceremony's history since its founding in 1986, as well as the first time at the beginning of the following year instead of December.

Leeteuk Park Jeong-su (; born July 1, 1983), known professionally as Leeteuk (; ), is a South Korean singer, songwriter, presenter, radio personality, and actor. He debuted as the leader of the boy band Super Junior in November 2005 and since then ha ...

Park Gyu-ri Park Gyu-ri (; born May 21, 1988), better known by the mononym Gyuri, is a South Korean singer, actress, and radio personality. She is a member of South Korean girl group Kara (South Korean band), Kara. Life and career 1988–2002: Early life ...

Lee Hong-gi Lee Hong-gi (; born March 2, 1990), also known mononymously as Hongki, is a South Korean singer, actor, and media personality. He is best known as the front man of rock band F.T. Island. In 2015, Lee debuted as a solo artist with the releas ...

, and

Bae Suzy Bae Su-ji (; born October 10, 1994), anglicized as Bae Suzy or known mononymously as Suzy, is a South Korean singer and actress. She is a former member of the girl group Miss A under JYP Entertainment. In 2017, she made her solo debut with th ...

served as the hosts for the event.

Criteria

The winners of the digital music and album categories were determined by music sales (80%) and a panel of music experts (20%). The Rookie Artist of the Year award was based on album sales (80%), a panel of music experts (10%) and online votes (10%), while the Popularity Award was based on online votes (80%) and album sales (20%).

Winners and nominees

Main awards

Winners and nominees are listed in alphabetical order. Winners are listed first and emphasized in bold.

Special awards

Controversy

The event was met with several controversies. The absences of popular artist such as

2NE1 2NE1 (, ) is a South Korean girl group formed by YG Entertainment in 2009. The group consists of Park Bom, Bom, CL (rapper), CL, Sandara Park, Dara, and Minzy. Known for their Experimental music, musical experimentation, fashion, and stage pre ...

Big Bang The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including th ...

, IU, and

T-ara T-ara (; ) is a South Korean girl group formed in 2009, currently consisting of four members: Qri, Hahm Eun-jung, Eunjung, Hyomin, and Park Ji-yeon, Jiyeon. T-ara's career is marked by Hook (music), hook-heavy dance-pop music, a result of their ...

, with none of them receiving any awards despite their successes during the year led to criticisms over fairness. The ceremony was broadcast through JTBC's Lunar New Year special instead of being broadcast live, which drew accusations of the awards being a "JTBC promotional concert" in an attempt to boost the channel's ratings. The ceremony also drew small controversy for being held abroad, with observers commenting that they did not see how Japan was relevant to the awards when sales figures were calculated from South Korea only. Others pointed out that although the

Mnet Asian Music Awards The MAMA Awards (, formerly Mnet Asian Music Awards) is a major Music award, music awards ceremony presented annually by entertainment company CJ ENM. First held in South Korea, the majority of prizes have been won by K-pop artists, although ...

is also a South Korean ceremony that have been held abroad, it had various participants from multiple countries around the world unlike the Golden Disc Awards, where only Korean artists participated.

References

{{Golden Disc Awards 2011 in South Korean music 2011 music awards Golden Disc Awards ceremonies