aespa and Stray Kids had a big weekend in Hong Kong. At the 2026 TMElive International Music Awards (TIMA), held at Kai Tak Stadium on August 22 and 23, aespa walked away with six total awards including Best International Girl Group of the Year, while Stray Kids took home Best International Group of the Year among the show’s male acts.
FAQ
What did aespa win at the 2026 TME Awards?
Best International Girl Group of the Year (Female) and Best Digital EP of the Year, plus multiple members’ solo tracks placing in the Global Trend Songs Top 10, for six awards total.
What did Stray Kids win?
Best International Group of the Year among the ceremony’s male acts.
Where and when was the ceremony held?
At Kai Tak Stadium in Hong Kong, across August 22 and 23, 2026.
aespa’s Six-Award Night
aespa’s haul included the top overall prize for international girl groups, Best Digital EP of the Year, and multiple placements in the Global Trend Songs Top 10 for members’ individual tracks, including Karina’s solo material. Member Giselle addressed the group’s global fanbase, known as MYs, directly in her acceptance speech, thanking them for supporting the group’s international push. Six wins in one night is a significant showing even for a group with aespa’s track record, and it reinforces how much of the act’s commercial momentum now comes from outside Korea.
Stray Kids Keep Their Streak Going
Stray Kids’ own August has already been busy, and the TME win adds an international awards recognition to a year that’s also included strong domestic chart performance. Taking the top international group prize among the ceremony’s male acts puts Stray Kids in the same conversation as aespa when it comes to which K-pop acts are translating chart success into award-season recognition on a global stage, not just at home.
NCT’s Taeyong Also Recognized
NCT’s Taeyong also picked up individual recognition at the ceremony, adding to a strong overall showing for SM Entertainment acts at this year’s TME Awards, given aespa is also under the same label. Between aespa’s six wins and Taeyong’s individual honor, SM had one of the stronger nights of any agency at the ceremony.
Having multiple acts from the same label picking up wins across different categories, rather than one group dominating, points to SM Entertainment’s broader roster strength this year rather than any single act’s standout moment. For a label managing several high-profile groups simultaneously, a spread of recognition across aespa, Taeyong, and the wider roster is arguably a better long-term signal than one act sweeping every category on its own.
Why the TME Awards Matter
The TMElive International Music Awards have grown into one of the higher-profile Asian award shows specifically built around international, rather than purely domestic, K-pop success, with categories that weigh global streaming and chart performance alongside more traditional metrics. For groups like aespa and Stray Kids, both of which have leaned heavily into global touring and English-language crossover material in recent years, a strong night at TIMA functions as a form of validation that their international strategy is actually working, not just anecdotally but by the numbers the show tracks.
How the TME Awards Compare to Other K-pop Shows
Unlike Korea’s longer-running domestic award shows, the TMElive International Music Awards are explicitly framed around global reach, drawing on Tencent Music’s international streaming and chart data rather than relying primarily on physical album sales or domestic broadcast performance. That distinction matters for how groups like aespa and Stray Kids are increasingly being evaluated, less by how they perform on Korean year-end shows alone, and more by metrics that specifically track how their music travels outside Korea.
What’s Next
With awards season recognition in hand, both groups now head into the back half of 2026 with comeback activity already in motion, aespa off the strength of its EP wins and Stray Kids continuing to build on “THIS & THAT.” Expect both acts’ labels to lean on the TME wins in upcoming promotional pushes, particularly for material aimed at international audiences.
What the Wins Mean Heading Into Year-End Award Shows
A strong showing at an internationally focused ceremony like TIMA often sets the tone for how a group is positioned heading into Korea’s larger year-end award shows later in the year, where domestic chart performance typically carries more weight alongside global metrics. For both aespa and Stray Kids, translating this kind of international recognition into similar results at home would round out what’s already shaping up as one of the stronger award-season stretches either group has had.
With both groups now carrying fresh international hardware into the fall promotional cycle, their labels are likely to fold the TME wins directly into upcoming comeback marketing rather than treat the ceremony as a standalone moment.
