The inaugural MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN culminated its week-long celebration of Japanese music with a truly spectacular Grand Ceremony held on 22 May at the ROHM Theatre in Kyoto.
Mrs. GREEN APPLE took home the biggest prize of the night, the Artist of the Year title. This crowning achievement followed their incredible show-closing performance of 'Darling' that wowed fans and industry peers alike. The band also claimed the Special Award: Karaoke of the Year: J-Pop powered by DAM & JOYSOUND. Meanwhile, Creepy Nuts continued their domination from the Premiere Ceremony by winning Song Of The Year (for 'Bling-Bang-Bang-Born', which they performed live) and Best Japanese Hip Hop/Rap Artist, taking their tally up to an amazing nine awards.
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Likewise, YOASOBI (read our interview with them here) also continued their momentum with a win for Top Global Hit From Japan (for 'Idol'), while Ayase picked up the Special Award: Song of the Year for Creators powered by JASRAC. The band's performance of 'Players', backdropped by an elaborate Playstation-inspired set was one of the night's biggest highlights. Fujii Kaze, who led the nominations with a whopping 17 nods, earned Album Of The Year for his acclaimed LP Love All Serve All. He complemented the win with a stripped-down, soul-baring performance of 'Michi Teyu Ku (Overflowing)'.
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K-pop giants aespa bagged Best Song Asia for their smash hit 'Supernova' (Singapore's Regina Song was nominated in this category for her viral breakthrough 'the cutest pair') and J-pop phenoms Snow Man won Best Idol Artist/Group (the award was presented by pioneering J-pop idol figure Kyoko Koizumi). The New Artist of the Year Award went to singer-songwriter tuki., while Spotify users voted Number_i’s debut single ‘GOAT’ as the Best of Listeners’ Choice: Japanese Song, selecting it from a shortlist of 30 tracks.
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Meanwhile, The Special Award for Popular Music was presented to six artists who have received outstanding recognition for their work in their respective countries. Winners included Lola Amour (the Philippines) SEVENTEEN (South Korea), Jeff Satur (Thailand), Zhou Shen (China), Salma Salsabil (Indonesia), and Tùng Dương (Vietnam).
Lola Amour (watch our interview with them here) was recognized with the Special Award for Philippine Popular Music for 'Raining In Manila', which was famously the band's first foray into city pop. “Never in our wildest dreams did we think that we would receive international recognition and what an honour it has been to receive it at the MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025," shares vocalist Pio Dumayas. ‘Raining In Manila’ was inspired by the themes of 80s city pop, so it hits even closer to home. To all our friends around the world that inspired ‘Raining In Manila,’ this one's for you!”
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The ceremony also commemorated the storied legacy of Eikichi Yazawa, who drew the loudest crowd reactions of the night with an energetic medley of his legendary classics. The night was also punctuated with several other phenomenal performances. Highlights included CHANMINA (performing 'Harenchi', 'King', 'Bijin', and 'Work Hard') who dropped jaws with her dazzling chereography and dynamic stage presence, Hikaru Utada's (read our interview with Utada here) enchanting pre-recorded take on 'Electricity', and scorching collaboration between AI, Awich, NENE and MaRI who united on 'Bad B*tch 美学 Remix' to showcase the strength of women in Japanese hip-hop.
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The ceremony kicked off with the amazing premiere of 'RYDEEN REBOOT', a cross-generational multi-artist performance built around Yellow Magic Orchestra’s seminal 1979 song ‘Rydeen’. The breathtaking segment featured a collaboration between Perfume, Yoshinori Sunahara, STUTS, CHANMINA, Number_i, Ichiro Yamaguchi, 10-FEET, ATARASHII GAKKO!, YUKI, Yasuyuki Okamura, and a virtual appearance from Hatsune Miku.
The inaugral Music Awards Japan honours the best musicians in Japan as well as international artists. An automated system selected entries based on an "objective metric tied to data" from Billboard Japan, Oricon, GfK/NIQ Japan, Luminate, and other sources, from which domestic voting members selected five nominees for each category. More than 5000 music industry professionals voted for the winners. The Japan Culture and Entertainment Industry Promotion Association (CEIPA) is a collaboration amongst five music industry bodies from Japan.
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