ITZY Just Won Five Trophies at KGMA 2026, Including Grand Honors’ Choice. The Year a 2020 B-Side Came Back to Life

ITZY won Grand Honors’ Choice, one of the grand prizes, on Day 2 (“Music Day”) of the 2026 Korea Grand Music Awards (KGMA) on November 8, 2026, at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. With Best Music for the group, Best Solo Performance and the Kugoong Most Popular Award for Yuna, and Trend of the Year (Female Solo) for Ryujin, ITZY went home with five trophies, the most of the night (Edaily; Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026). They shared Grand Honors’ Choice with KiiiKiii, while ATEEZ took Grand Record and RIIZE took Grand Performer. “Thanks to everyone who cheered for us this year, we ran hard and made so many meaningful memories,” ITZY said. “We’ll show you something great next year too” (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026).

I’ll be honest: as a MIDZY at heart, this one made me so happy. Five trophies split between the group and two members’ own work is exactly what ITZY’s year looked like: everybody shining, together and apart.

The stage that started the year’s biggest ITZY moment: 17.58 million views as of Nov. 8, 2026. Official KGMA award clips weren’t up on ENA’s, KGMA’s or Ilgan Sports’ channels at the time of writing.

What happened at Gocheok

• Five trophies. Grand Honors’ Choice and Best Music (ITZY), Best Solo Performance and Kugoong Most Popular Award (Yuna), Trend of the Year, Female Solo (Ryujin) (Edaily; Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026).
• What Grand Honors’ Choice means. KGMA gives it to artists who reached a remarkable achievement that year (Edaily). Ilgan Sports founded the awards in 2024 and hosts the show, which ENA aired live in Korea.
• Yuna’s double. The Kugoong award is decided by K-pop fans voting worldwide. “Most Popular? This feels like a dream,” Yuna said. “Our MIDZY made this award by voting so hard. Thank you so, so much, and I love you” (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026). Earlier, accepting Best Solo Performance, she called out: “MIDZY! I won an award!” (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026). Adorable.
• The stage. ITZY performed “Motto,” then took over the main stage with a mega crew of dancers for “THAT’S A NO NO,” and the dome went wild at the first beat of the chorus (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026).
• A shout-out to Chaeryeong. Accepting Best Music, the members asked fans to look forward to Chaeryeong’s solo debut too (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026).

Also read: TREASURE Just Won Grand Song at KGMA 2026. The 11-Day, 100-Million-View Year That Made It Happen

The year in numbers

When	What	The number
Nov. 10, 2025	Mini album TUNNEL VISION	Title track MV at 37.49 million views as of Nov. 8, 2026 (Edaily, Apr. 2026; YouTube)
2026	Third world tour TUNNEL VISION	Seoul, then Hong Kong, Macau, Taipei, Sydney, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Frankfurt and Singapore, wrapped in early October (Top Star News, 2026; Star News, Oct. 7, 2026)
Mar. 2026	Yuna’s first solo mini album Ice Cream	Title track No. 1 on Bugs’ real-time chart; album No. 1 on Hanteo’s and Circle’s daily physical and retail charts (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026; Slist, Mar. 2026)
May 18, 2026	Mini album Motto	Title track MV at 20.10 million views as of Nov. 8, 2026 (Star Daily News, May 18, 2026; YouTube)
2026	“THAT’S A NO NO” (2020)	Back on the charts six years after release, through a dance challenge (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026)

“Motto,” which Yeji described as “a song that makes me think of MIDZY and the members every time I hear it” (Star Daily News, May 18, 2026).

The challenge everyone did: “Daechu No No”

Here’s the story fans will tell about ITZY’s 2026. “THAT’S A NO NO” is a B-side from IT’z ME, their second mini album from March 2020. On the TUNNEL VISION tour, ITZY gave it a brand-new performance for the first time at the Seoul concerts, and the dance spread across social media as the “Daechu No No” challenge (Slist, Oct. 2026). Korean fans hear “That’s a” as daechu, the word for jujube, so the whole internet spent months doing a jujube dance. It’s silly, it’s catchy and it’s exactly the kind of joke that makes a fandom feel like home.

The song climbed back up the charts six years after release (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026), Mnet booked it as a special stage on M Countdown in March, and by tonight ITZY were performing it at a dome with a crew of dancers behind them. When they talked about Motto, they even promised to show “more than ‘Daechu No No'” (Maeil Business, May 2026).

Most-watched: the solo year

Yuna went first among the members this year after Yeji. Her first solo mini album, Ice Cream, came out in March, seven years after ITZY’s debut, with a bubblegum-pop title track about enjoying a sweet moment before it melts (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026; Slist, Mar. 2026). Tonight it won her Best Solo Performance.

18.29 million views as of Nov. 8, 2026.

Ryujin’s Trend of the Year award came after a charismatic solo performance at ITZY’s recent fan meeting drew a wave of attention (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 3, 2026). Her promise tonight was simple: “We’ll be an ITZY that keeps working hard” (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026).

The title track that named the tour: 37.49 million views as of Nov. 8, 2026.

Why they’re so cool

Because they keep finding new life in their own story. A 2020 B-side becoming a 2026 challenge doesn’t happen by accident. It happened because ITZY rebuilt the performance for their tour and gave it to fans as something new (Slist, Oct. 2026). And because the group renewed with JYP early, in September 2025, they’ve spent this year building both the team and five individual paths at once (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 3, 2026).

And because they always say thank you to the same people. Tonight’s speech thanked “the JYP family, who always work so hard for us,” and MIDZY (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026). Yuna’s speech was basically a love letter to voters. Five trophies, and every single one was handed back to the fans.

What’s next

Chaeryeong releases her first solo mini album, Lovesick, on November 9, the day after the show, becoming the third ITZY member to go solo after Yeji and Yuna (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 6, 2026). For Day 1’s winners, see our story on Young K’s Grand Artist win.

Where to listen: TUNNEL VISION, Motto and Yuna’s Ice Cream are on Melon, Spotify and Apple Music, and the videos above are on the official ITZY and JYP Entertainment YouTube channels (checked Nov. 8, 2026).

Five trophies, one viral jujube dance and a third solo debut tomorrow. Congratulations, ITZY. I’ll be streaming Lovesick the minute it drops.

---

Sources: Edaily (Nov. 8, 2026: KGMA Music Day round-up; “있지, 그랜드 아너 초이스 영예”; “‘2관왕’ 있지 유나”; Apr. 2026: “있지, 새 미니앨범 ‘모토’로 내달 18일 컴백”); Ilgan Sports (Nov. 8, 2026: Music Day round-up; “있지, 5인 5색 여신 자태”; “있지, 베스트 뮤직”; “있지 유나, 베스트 솔로 퍼포먼스 상 영예”; “있지 류진, 2026 트렌드 오브 더 이어 수상”; Nov. 3, 2026; Nov. 6, 2026); Slist (Mar. 2026; Oct. 2026); Star News (Oct. 7, 2026); Star Daily News (May 18, 2026); Maeil Business (May 2026); Top Star News (2026). View counts as shown on YouTube, Nov. 8, 2026.

Featured photo: ITZY at a brand event in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, November 2025. Photo: 티비텐 TV10 (YouTube) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized).