(Yonhap)

K-pop juggernaut Exo bagged yet another grand prize at the 26th annual Seoul Music Awards on Thursday, sweeping top honors at five of the biggest music awards in the country.

The boyband notched up the award for the fourth consecutive year, edging out rivals Bangtan Boys, BtoB and VIXX. The group has grand prizes from the Asia Artist Awards, Melon Music Awards, Mnet Asian Music Award, and Golden Disc Awards (best album category) under its belt.

“We are consistently working so that (our fans) will laugh, be happy and just be proud of Exo,” said Baek-hyun of the group, after receiving the award.

“My motto is to live my life without regrets. The most ‘regret-free’ thing I did is become a member of Exo,” said the band’s leader Suho.

In addition to winning the biggest award of the night, Exo also took home “Fandom School Award” -- given to the winner of the popular vote -- and was one of 12 recipients of the main prize given to the most influential groups in the K-pop scene each year.

Other winners of the main prize were Mamamoo, Red Velvet, Got7, Seventeen, Zico, VIXX, GFriend, Taeyeon, Sechskies, BTS and Twice.

(Yonhap)

Twice, who won the grand prize in the best song category with “Cheer Up” at the Golden Disc Awards, was also awarded best digital song and best female dance performance. BTS was recognized as the best male dance performance.

BTS also won the award for the best music video with “Blood, Sweat and Tears” and best album for “Wings.”

Steady-performer SHINee won the popularity award, while boyband Astro won the Hallyu award which is given to bands who gained a large overseas fan base that year. Best new artist awards went to I.O.I, NCT127 and Black Pink.

The event was streamed live online at digital content platform winvention.com, by local company TiTANplatform. The streaming service was also available to those in North America and Europe. The online audience peaked at 270,000 during Exo’s performance.

“We plan to consistently launch services for overseas fans who love Hallyu and consume content online,” said Jeong Yeong-seok of the TiTANplatform’s marketing team.

The videos for the Seoul Music Awards -- including behind the scene clips ? are available online at winvention.com.
By Yoon Min-sik (minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com)