The 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards ceremony, organized by CJ E&M through its music channel Mnet, took place live on December 6 at the CJ ENM Contents World in Paju, South Korea with the theme, "New-Topia". The ceremony was held with no on-site audience due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony was the 22nd in the show's history.
Background
On September 11, CJ ENM responded to reports and confirmed that the year's MAMA will still take place despite the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, but no additional details were announced.
On September 21, it was reported that it will take place on December 6 with no location confirmed. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic made it impossible to hold the event in Hong Kong. It was the first time in 11 years that MAMA only took place in South Korea.
On November 24, it was reported that Song Joong-ki was set to host the ceremony.
Criteria
K-Pop Categories
All songs that are eligible to be nominated are songs released from October 24, 2019, to October 28, 2020.
Asia Music Categories
Artists from Japan, China, Thailand, Indonesia, India and Vietnam who've worked on songs released from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2020.
Professional Categories
Music experts from South Korea, Japan, China, Thailand, India, Indonesia and Vietnam who participated in music related contents released from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2020.
Performers
(Note: All performance were pre-recorded in order to maintain social distancing due to COVID-19 pandemic.)
Presenters
The list of presenters was announced on December 1, 2020.
Song Joong-ki – host, presented CJ ENM 2020 Visionary & Song of the Year
Byeon Woo-seok & Hwang In-youp – Best New Male & Female Artist
Bae Jung-nam & Lee Sun-bin – Best Dance Performance – Male and Solo & Discovery of the Year Lee Do-hyun & Go Bo-gyeol – Best Band Performance & Favorite Dance Performance – Female Solo Joo Woo-jae & Lee Yu-bi – Best of Next & Best Vocal Performance – Group James Corden – Album of the Year Gong Myung & Choi Soo-young – Worldwide Fans' Choice Yoo Yeon-seok & Jung Kyung-ho – Worldwide Fans' Choice Im Soo-jung & Lee Da-hee – Worldwide Fans' Choice Yang Kyung-won & Park Ha-sun – Best Stage, Favorite Dance Performance – Group & Notable Achievement Artist Kim Ji-suk & Im Soo-hyang – Best Music Video & Favorite Asian Artist Lee Sang-yeob & Park Gyu-young – Favorite Female & Male Group Park Seo-joon – Worldwide Icon of the Year Yoon Park & Kang Han-na – Favorite Dance Performance – Male Solo & Favorite Global Performance Jung Moon-sung & Jeon Mi-do – Best Male Artist Gong Myung – BoA's 20th anniversary special & Inspired Achievement Award Jeon Hye-jin – Most Popular Artist Lee Jung-jae – Artist of the Year
Winners and nominees
Winners are listed first and highlighted in bold. Online voting opened on the official MAMA website and Twitter an hour after the announcement of nominees on October 29, 2020. Voting ended on December 5, 2020.
Main awards
Favorite Awards
Special Awards
Professional Categories
Multiple Awards
The following artist(s) received three or more awards:
Broadcast
The ceremony of the 2020 Mnet Asian Music Awards was broadcast live worldwide from Mnet in South Korea to simulcast across CJ E&M channels; other international networks, and online via Mnet K-pop and KCON's YouTube account and Mnet's official website. The live red carpet broadcast was cancelled due to safety protocols against COVID-19.