Lim Young-woong Secures First Place in 2025 Asia Artist Awards Preliminary Vote with Nearly 183,000 Votes
Korean trot sensation Lim Young-woong has claimed a decisive victory in the Male Solo Artist category for the 10th Anniversary Asia Artist Awards 2025 preliminary voting, earning 182,669 votes-nearly three times more than his closest competitor.
Voting Results Show Dominant Lead
The preliminary round, which concluded on October 13 through the Idol Champ mobile application, saw Lim capture 28.94% of total votes. BTS member Jimin finished second with 57,403 votes, while bandmate V took third place with 52,585 votes.
SEVENTEEN's DK (46,550 votes) and Stray Kids' Seungmin (33,200 votes) rounded out the top five. The remaining top ten included NCT members Doyoung, Haechan, and Mark, alongside BIGBANG's G-Dragon and BTS's Jin.
New Voting Structure for 10th Anniversary
The 2025 edition expanded from four to six categories, now featuring separate divisions for male and female actors, group singers, and solo singers. Preliminary results will count for 30% of the final score, with the final voting round contributing 70%.
Final voting runs from October 16 through November 5, with only the top ten from preliminaries advancing to compete for awards at the ceremony.
About the Winner
Lim Young-woong, 34, rose to national prominence in 2020 after winning TV Chosun's "Mr. Trot" competition, defeating 17,000 contestants. He released his second studio album "IM HERO 2" on August 29, 2025, featuring 11 tracks including title song "Moment Like Eternity".
Since his 2016 debut, he has achieved four number-one songs on the Gaon Digital Chart and became the first trot artist to reach one million YouTube subscribers.
Awards Ceremony Details
The 10th Anniversary Asia Artist Awards takes place December 6 at Kaohsiung National Stadium in Taiwan, hosted by Lee Junho and IVE's Jang Won-young. The ceremony will feature 23 artist performances and collaborative stages over 300 minutes.
Confirmed performers include Stray Kids, RIIZE, LE SSERAFIM, IVE, MONSTA X, ATEEZ, and CRAVITY, among others. Actor attendees include Park Bo-gum, IU, Kim You-jung, and Lim Yoon-ah.
A special concert festival, ACON 2025, will follow on December 7.
Winners will be determined by combining 30% preliminary voting results with 70% final round voting, with results announced at the December ceremony.
