ZICO Wins Best Producer Award While BOYNEXTDOOR Hits Triple Million-Seller Status in 2025
Hip-hop artist and producer ZICO capped off 2025 with major recognition at the Melon Music Awards while the group he oversees, BOYNEXTDOOR, achieved unprecedented commercial success under his direction.
Best Producer Honor at 2025 Melon Music Awards
ZICO received the Best Producer award at the 2025 Melon Music Awards held December 20 at Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. The recognition highlighted his work on multiple hit releases throughout the year, including his contributions to BLACKPINK member JENNIE's debut solo album and his oversight of BOYNEXTDOOR's record-breaking releases.
The award ceremony also featured ZICO performing his December 19 collaboration "DUET" with Japanese artist Lilas (ikura from YOASOBI). The cross-border single climbed to No. 6 on Spotify Korea's Daily Top Songs chart following the MMA performance and topped YouTube Korea's Trending Music chart through December 30.
JENNIE Collaboration Dominates Global Charts
ZICO co-wrote "Like JENNIE," the title track from JENNIE's debut album Ruby, which dropped March 7. He specifically wrote and directed the Korean rap verse in the song's second verse while providing creative oversight during recording sessions. Co-produced by Diplo alongside writers Tayla Parx and Amanda Ibanez, the track became the most-streamed K-pop song on Spotify in the first half of 2025.
The song peaked at No. 5 on Billboard's Global 200 chart and No. 3 on the Global Excl. US chart while topping South Korea's Circle Digital Chart.
BOYNEXTDOOR Achieves Triple Million-Seller Status
Under ZICO's executive production, BOYNEXTDOOR became one of 2025's breakout acts with three consecutive million-selling albums. Their 4th mini-album No Genre (released May 13) and 5th mini-album The Action (released October 20) both exceeded one million copies in first-week sales, joining their 3rd mini-album 19.99 from 2024.
The Action specifically sold 1,041,802 copies in its first week according to Hanteo Chart, while title track "Hollywood Action" reached No. 2 on Melon's Top 100-BOYNEXTDOOR's highest chart position to date.
The group's early 2025 digital single "One and Only I LOVE YOU," released January 6, demonstrated lasting chart power throughout the year. Members Taesan and Woonhak contributed to songwriting on the track, which ZICO executive produced. The song peaked at No. 4 on Melon's Top 100 and reached No. 23 on Melon's January monthly chart.
Japanese Market Expansion
ZICO deepened his presence in Japan through multiple high-profile collaborations. Beyond "DUET" with Lilas, he released "EKO EKO" in June with legendary Japanese group m-flo as part of their 25th-anniversary project. He performed "DUET" on Japan's Music Station SUPER LIVE 2025 on December 26, one of the country's most-watched year-end music programs.
His Japanese activities will continue with "2026 ZICO LIVE: TOKYO DRIVE" on February 7, 2026, at Keio Arena Tokyo-his first solo concert in Japan in eight years. The announcement followed his November 2024 Seoul concert "Join The Parade," which celebrated his 10th solo anniversary.
Upcoming Projects
ZICO will join Mnet's hip-hop competition series Show Me the Money 12 as a producer when it premieres January 15, 2026. Partnering with R&B artist Crush, he'll mentor contestants alongside producer teams including Gray and Loco, J-Tong and Hukky Shibaseki, and Lil Moshpit and Jay Park. The series marks the franchise's first co-production with streaming platform TVING.
In a statement through KOZ Entertainment, ZICO addressed his future direction: "Production work provides great stimulation, but as a player, I want to show more substantial works. Since establishing the label, I've only released one full album, so now I want to work on album-scale projects."
The comment signals potential new solo music while maintaining his dual role as both performer and one of K-pop's most influential producers.
