Netizens breathe a sigh of disappointment over the results of this year's Melon Music Awards. EXO's fans have come out and said that they believed the twelve-member boy group should have won the Album of the Year award over BTS (Bangtan Boys).
The two boy groups faced each other for the prestigious award on Oct. 19, Saturday, with EXO's "EX'ACT" losing out to BTS' "The Most Beautiful Moment in Life: Young Forever" album. As per Melon Music site, the Album of the Year award is determined based on the album's music streams or downloads (70 percent) and public votes (30 percent).
With this, EXO's fans did some digging of their own and recorded some evidence in regards the supposed anomaly in the results. As per the fan club, as cited by All Kpop, EXO topped the Trend Chart and MelOn Music Awards fan votes, consistently. It is said that EXO earned 46 percent of the votes, while BTS only accumulated 34 percent.
Not long after the news came to light, a representative from Melon clarified that the results do not simply consider the number of streams and album purchases from Melon user, but from everyone, Soompi has learned. The representative then refused to release the said data, stating that such thing is an internal and confidential file. It added, "BTS won the award because they were streamed more than EXO."
The annual Melon Music Awards is a star-studded event, where many of the gifted Kpop groups and idols were recognized for their various achievements. Presented by Kakao, some of the big winners included EXO, BTS, and Twice.
EXO snagged five awards: Netizen Choice, Top 10, Kakao Hot Star Award, Dance (Male), the Best Artist of The Year award. The group was also honored with the most prestigious award called Daesang, making them the first Kpop group to complete the trifecta of winning 3 Daesangs at the annual event.
Speaking before a predominantly Korean crowd, the twelve-member boy group promised that they will become the artist that their fans, dubbed EXO-L, can be proud of. EXO's Kai then stated the group will continue to do their best, while Suho expressed how he wanted the boy band to resemble Sechs Kies' who can be with their fans for quite a while.
Watch EXO at 2016 Melon Music Awards here: