32nd Golden Disc Awards Explains How Grand Prize Winner For Albums Was Determined

The 32nd Golden Disc Awards committee has shared the details behind BTS’s win of the Grand Prize (Daesang) in the album category.

On January 11, BTS took home their first ever Golden Disc Awards Grand Prize (Daesang) for their album “Love Yourself: Her.” Afterwards, the news outlet Ilgan Sports shared a report that explains how the 32nd Golden Disc Awards determined the winner.

According to the report, awards in the album category were based on sales data for albums released from December of 2016 to November of 2017, with statistics from Gaon Chart up to December of 2017. In the evaluation for the Bonsang and Grand Prize, variety and drama OST albums were excluded. Albums were only included if they had six or more new songs, excluding intro, outro, and instrumental tracks, as well as different versions of songs that had been on other albums. In cases where artists had more than one release during this time period, the album with the highest sales was chosen to be considered.

As with the digital category, the total score was determined 80 percent by sales and 20 percent by expert evaluation. The standards for sales were set by the 32nd Golden Disc Awards executive committee, which includes experts from distribution companies and the popular music industry.

The sales of a single album were converted into a score. The definition of a “single album” was one that has the same number of major tracks and the same release date, and was produced and distributed in Korea. In cases of an album with a version in a language other than Korean, it would be considered as a single album if it met these criteria, with its sales added to the total sales.

The executive committee has stated, “In a case where a repackaged album meets all the critera, including having six or more new songs, we evaluated it like any other album as a single album. This means that a repackaged album could win if it it has higher sales than the original full album.”

As BTS’s “Love Yourself: Her” recorded 1,493,443 album sales, it received the highest score for sales. It had the highest sales for a single album since g.o.d’s fourth full album 16 years before in 2001. In second place was EXO’s fourth album “The War,” which recorded 1,085,094 in sales. This is the sales number for both the Korean and Chinese version of the album, as they met the executive committee’s criteria of being produced in Korea and having the same release date and songs.

BTS also came in first in terms of the expert panel’s evaluation. The panel of judges consisted of 30 experts, including music show producing directors, radio producing directors, music critics, Korean music distributors, music journalists, members of the Golden Disc Awards executive committee, and more. BTS received a score of 290 out of 300, the highest score from the judges. EXO received a score of 211. In addition, when asked for their subjective choice for the Grand Prize, 26 out of 30 judges chose BTS, which was the highest score.

The executive committee stated, “The music market is changing rapidly, and format and methods of releasing physical albums are also changing. The Golden Disc Awards ceremony will continue to use an evaluation system that flexibly reflects the trends and tides, under a broad principle of fairness.”

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