Why GDA Disqualified IZ*ONE From Bonsang Nomination Despite Huge Sales

Despite the huge album sales that the 12 girls from IZ*ONE have garnered in the past two years of being active, the Golden Disk Awards (GDA) disqualified them from the Album Bonsang Nomination, and let's find out why.

In 2020, the girl group that was the product of the survival show "Produce 48" produced one Korean album and an extended play (EP). IZ*ONE's February release with "Bloom*Iz" has sold more than 510,000 copies as of this writing. Meanwhile, their "Oneiric Diary" EP (June) has sold more than 570,000 copies. With the huge sales of Bloom*Iz, it is very valid for Bonsang album nomination for the upcoming Golden Disk Awards. 

However, this is not the case with IZ*ONE. For two years now, the GDA has not nominated IZ*ONE for any category in their awards show. According to sources, this is the result of the "2019 Produce series scandal."

Last year, a scandal about the alleged voting manipulation in Mnet's "Produce 101 series" surface. The producer behind the survival show, Ahn Joon-young, partially admitted to rigging the votes of all of the seasons of "Produce 101" and was arrested over allegations of bribery and fraud.

Some of the members of IZ*ONE have been accused of cheating their way into the group. Recently, the identities of those girls that were supposed to debut with IZ*ONE have been revealed, making the public dying to know who among the twelve girls should not have debuted. 

Because of this, the girl group has received heavy criticism from the public. According to many, the girl group does not deserve awards and recognition as it was created through "cheating." Moreover, the public has praised GDA for being transparent and fair. 

Meanwhile, IZ*ONE came back with their fourth mini-album, "One-Reeler," with the title track, "Panorama." 

Check out the nominees for the 35th Golden Disk Awards here.