EXO perform at the 5th annual 2013 MelOn Music Awards held in the Gymnastics Stadium at the Seoul Olympic Park on Thursday. Yonhap News

The 2013 MelOn Music Awards on Thursday recognized the biggest acts in Korean music including SHINee, Busker Busker and EXO, who walked away with “Artist of the Year,” “Album of the Year” and “Song of the Year,” respectively.

The MelOn Music Awards are among the biggest in the country and hand out prizes based on digital sales and online votes.

SHINee’s award marked the first time they were crowned artist of the year at the annual awards ceremony, beating out rival boy band Beast, who had taken home the prize the two previous years. The group recently released its 5th Mini Album titled “Everybody” last month. The EP went on to top all the local major weekly album charts as well as ranking at No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard World Albums chart.

Busker Busker repeated past success by taking home this year’s “Album of the Year” award for the group’s eponymous second studio album. Busker Busker won best album at last year’s MelOn Music Awards for “Busker Busker 1st Album.” Soon after the group’s second album was released on Sept. 25, all of its nine tracks were ranked No.1-No.9 on most major online music services including Naver, Bugs, Melon and Mnet, with the title track “Love, At First” taking the top spot on all of the local real-time charts.

The ceremony also awarded “Top 10” prizes to: EXO (also winning this year’s “Netizens Popularity Award”); Davichi; Dynamic Duo; Busker Busker; Beast; SHINee; Sistar; IU; Ailee; and G-Dragon.

Solo singer Ailee was emotional upon receiving the award, unable to hold back tears on stage. The artist has recently been caught up in a controversy involving nude photos released on the Internet. Ailee’s agency made a statement claiming the nude photos were taken under false pretenses as the singer thought she was posing for an underwear modeling test shoot.

Other winners of the night included hip-hop artist Yoon Mirae; legendary rock star Cho Yong-pil; Baechigi; Huh Gak; K.will;, f(x); Shin Seung-hoon; and Shinsadong Tiger for this year’s Songwriter Award.

Rap star Psy was, to no surprise, awarded the “Global Artist” award while newcomers Kim Ye-rim and boy band BTS were honored with the “Rookie of the Year” trophy.

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)