RIIZE Just Won Grand Performer at KGMA 2026. A 420,000-Fan World Tour, a Tokyo Dome Record and a Fourth Million-Seller

RIIZE won Grand Performer, the grand prize for the act that gave the year’s best stages, on Day 2 (“Music Day”) of the 2026 Korea Grand Music Awards (KGMA) on November 8, 2026, at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. They also took Best Music, for two trophies on the night (Edaily; Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026). ATEEZ won Grand Record, and ITZY and KiiiKiii shared Grand Honors’ Choice. “I never imagined we’d receive an award this big,” Sungchan said. “We could win this because of BRIIZE, who made every one of those stages with us” (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026).

I’ll be honest: as a fan, I got a little emotional hearing the word “performer” next to RIIZE’s name. This is a group that spent eight months crossing the world on their first tour, and the prize they won tonight is the one about the stage.

“Insomnia,” their newest single: 14.44 million views about two weeks after release, 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

• Two trophies. Grand Performer and Best Music (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026).
• What Grand Performer means. KGMA gives it to the team that delivered the best stages of the year (Edaily). Ilgan Sports founded the awards in 2024 and hosts the show, which ENA aired live in Korea.
• The thank-yous. Sungchan thanked “the SM family, our performance director, the concert team and our managers,” then turned to his members: “We did so many stages this year and gave each other feedback to make them better. Thank you. I hope we keep making great stages together” (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026).
• Shotaro’s line. “I thought a lot about what new side of us I could show through performance. I’m honored and grateful that so many people noticed that effort” (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026). Eunseok and Shotaro both promised something new for next year’s comeback (Edaily).
• Earlier in the night. Accepting Best Music, the group said, “Making good music is always our team’s goal. Please look forward to our second full album next year” (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026).

The year in numbers

When	What	The number
Feb. 2026	RIIZING LOUD Special Edition at Tokyo Dome	Fastest K-pop boy group to play Tokyo Dome after debut, about 2 years and 5 months in (Edaily, Mar. 2026)
Mar. 6–8, 2026	RIIZING LOUD finale, KSPO Dome, Seoul	32,000 fans over three sold-out nights; 420,000 across 21 cities in Asia and North America since July 2025 (Edaily, Mar. 2026)
June 2026	Second mini album TWO, title track “Do your dance”	Their fourth million-seller (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026)
Oct. 26, 2026	Digital single “Insomnia”	7 straight days at No. 1 on Melon’s Global K-Chart, plus the weekly top spot (Tenasia, Nov. 2, 2026); No. 1 on both QQ Music’s digital album and single sales charts, with over 250,000 yuan in sales (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026)

The tour is the heart of it. RIIZE launched RIIZING LOUD at KSPO Dome in July 2025, took it through Japan, Southeast Asia and North America, and came home to the same venue in March to play 27 songs in 180 minutes (Edaily, Mar. 2026).

“All of You,” live at Tokyo Dome: 744,709 views as of Nov. 8, 2026.

The night the tour ended

The finale is the moment fans still talk about. On the last night in Seoul, Anton cried as the group thanked each other, and the members spoke about how hard it was to believe RIIZING LOUD was over. “I can’t believe it’s ending,” one member said. “So much happened in eight months, and it was such a big experience for us” (Sports Today, Mar. 8, 2026; Hankook Ilbo, Mar. 8, 2026). Before the show, they’d promised to be “sexier, cooler and cuter, with no regrets,” which is the most RIIZE sentence possible (Edaily, Mar. 2026).

That tour is the reason tonight’s award feels so right. Sungchan said it himself at Gocheok: from last year to early this year they toured and played festivals, and BRIIZE made those stages with them (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026).

Most-watched: “Do your dance”

“Do your dance,” the title track of TWO, became their fourth million-seller era (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026), and it’s a performance song through and through.

19.29 million views as of Nov. 8, 2026.

The official dance practice shows exactly why the Grand Performer trophy went to them: six members, one clean line, no wasted motion.

429,383 views as of Nov. 8, 2026.

Why they’re so cool

Because they grow in public and don’t hide how much it means. RIIZE debuted in September 2023, and in about two and a half years they went from their first KSPO Dome show to Tokyo Dome and back to KSPO Dome as a sold-out finale (Edaily, Mar. 2026). Their music runs on what they call “emotional pop,” and “Insomnia” carried that into a quieter sound that global music outlets praised for its confidence without flash (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026; Slist, Nov. 2026).

And because they share the credit. Sungchan’s speech tonight named the performance director, the concert crew, the managers and every member before it got to himself, and Shotaro described a whole year of thinking about “what new side” to show (Edaily, Nov. 8, 2026). That’s what a performer’s prize should sound like.

What’s next

RIIZE have promised a second full album next year (Ilgan Sports, Nov. 8, 2026), and Eunseok and Shotaro both said the next comeback will show something new (Edaily). For the rest of the KGMA weekend, see our story on Day 1’s Young K, Grand Artist.

Where to listen: TWO and “Insomnia” are on Melon, Spotify and Apple Music, and the videos above are on the official RIIZE and SMTOWN YouTube channels (checked Nov. 8, 2026).

A world tour, a Tokyo Dome record, a fourth million-seller and now a grand prize for the stage. Congratulations, RIIZE. I can’t wait to hear what that second full album sounds like.

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Sources: Edaily (Nov. 8, 2026: KGMA Music Day round-up; “라이즈, 그랜드 퍼포머 수상”; Mar. 2026: “‘영원히 기억될 순간’ 라이즈, 42만 관객 동원 첫 투어로 성장 증명”); Ilgan Sports (Nov. 8, 2026: Music Day round-up; “라이즈, 베스트 뮤직 수상”); Tenasia (Nov. 2, 2026); Sports Today (Mar. 8, 2026); Hankook Ilbo (Mar. 8, 2026); Slist (Nov. 2026). View counts as shown on YouTube, Nov. 8, 2026.

Featured photo: RIIZE on the red carpet at the 2024 Melon Music Awards, Nov. 30, 2024. Photo: TenAsia (YouTube) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped and resized).