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K-pop boy bands GOT7 and WINNER are vying for the title of this year‘s top rookie band in the upcoming Golden Disc Awards.

The two groups are front-runners for the New Artist Award at the upcoming 29th Golden Disc Awards to be held in Beijing, China, from Jan. 14-15.

A popularity vote, which will help decide the winner, began Wednesday.

As of 6 p.m. on Wednesday, GOT7 was ahead of WINNER, garnering 6,014 votes, or 51.4 percent. WINNER was just 775 votes behind.


Other rookie balladeer Bernard Park, girl band Red Velvet and teenage duo Akdong Musician also made it into the top five, though they received less than 5 percent of the total votes so far.

Both GOT7 and WINNER debuted early this year under two of the biggest labels in Korea, JYP Entertainment and YG Entertainment, respectively.

The winner for the award will be decided based on the judges‘ opinion (10 percent), votes from netizens (20 percent) and album and digital song sales (70 percent).

In the vote for this year’s Main Album, seven-member boy band BTS‘s “Dark & Wild” is leading the race with 21.5 percent of the total votes, beating Super Junior’s “MAMACITA,” which has 15.2 percent.

In the “Digital Album” section, six-member boy band BEAST’s “Good Luck” is in the No.1 spot with 29.1 percent of the votes, closely followed by Girls‘ Generation’s “Mr. Mr.,” with 23.2 percent.

Anybody can cast a vote through the mobile app “WEFANS” and the website http://isplus.live.joins.com/award/29goldendisc/kr/.

Started in 1986, the annual Golden Disc Awards has broadened its presence as South Korea’s representative music awards.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)