Every K-pop group or soloist dreams of winning on Korean music shows, which is the first indicator that an artist is becoming successful in the music scene. Numerous K-pop acts have already taken home multiple trophies with their hit songs in the past, most of which were emotional moments, especially the first music show wins of the artists.

However, there were cases when broadcasting stations that hold music shows would miscalculate or would allegedly manipulate scores and give the trophy to the wrong artist, resulting in a controversy. Here are five of those instances.

5 Controversial Music Show Wins of K-pop Artists: Kep1er, LE SSERAFIM, More

LE SSERAFIM and Lim Young Woong

One of the controversial music show wins this 2022 is that of LE SSERAFIM's victory on the May 13 episode of KBS's "Music Bank."

The rookie group won against trot singer Lim Young Woong even though the latter outperformed the group in terms of digital performance and album sales.

The most "suspicious" score that netizens focused on was the broadcast scores: Lim Young Woong earned 0, while LE SSERAFIM got 5,348 points.

In fact, the situation became so controversial that one civilian filed a complaint to the police to investigate the suspicious scores. Police have since released an update on the investigation.

Kep1er and TWICE Nayeon

Another infamous music show win of a rookie girl group this year is Kep1er against TWICE Nayeon on the July 1 broadcast of KBS's "Music Bank."

Netizens criticized the point system of the music program, questioning the point given to Nayeon for SNS, which is only 1 point (compared to Kep1er who had 31 points).

ONCEs pointed out that Nayeon was doing well regarding social media's influence, specifically on YouTube.

Additionally, netizens expressed suspicions that the TWICE member lost to the rookie girl group when she had higher points in terms of digital performance and physical sales.

BLACKPINK and EXO-SC

In addition to cases, there were also controversial music show wins in the past.

For instance, on the July 24, 2020 episode of "Music Bank," BLACKPINK's "How You Like That" won against EXO-SC's "1 Billion Views" (feat. MOON).

However, there was an error in calculating the points of the candidates for first place.

EXO-SC initially got 269 points for broadcast scores but "Music Bank" revealed that it was actually 1,031 points.

As a result, EXO-SC was in first place and BLACKPINK was in second place.

GFRIEND and Other Artists

GFRIEND's victory on "Show Champion" is another music show win that sparked a controversy in 2020. On July 22, GFRIEND's "Apple" won against BLACKPINK's "How You Like That," EXO-SC's "1 Billion Views" (feat. MOON), Zico's "Summer Hate" (feat. Rain), and HWASA's "Maria."

The group was said to have received a "pity win," considering that their song "Apple" was less successful compared to the other nominees.

TWICE and AOA

The last case on our list involves TWICE and AOA. These two were nominated for first place on the May 27, 2016 episode of KBS's "Music Bank." AOA's "Good Luck" took the win over TWICE's "Cheer Up."

But AOA's win became the subject of controversy, with many finding the album scores problematic.

But two days later, the broadcasting station revealed that there was a mistake in calculating the scores, so in the end, TWICE was announced the final winner. But, producer Shin Mi Jin of KBS said that they will not take the trophy away from AOA to give to TWICE. Instead, TWICE will receive a new trophy.

Do you know any other controversial music show wins in the K-pop scene? Share with us in the comment box below!

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Written by Maria Scott