Lim Young-woong leading poll for Golden Disc Awards' Most Popular Male Artist

Trot singer Lim Young-woong currently leads the poll for the 38th Golden Disc Awards' Most Popular Male Artist award with over a million votes. Twice and Blackpink's Jisoo are currently neck and neck for the Most Popular Female Artist title.

Trot singer Lim Young-woong is currently the only artist with more than a million votes in the 38th Golden Disc Awards' Most Popular Artist poll. Voting closes on Dec. 27. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Trot singer Lim Young-woong is the only artist with more than a million votes in the 38th Golden Disc Awards' Most Popular Artist poll. There are fewer than seven days left until the poll closes on Dec. 27.

Lim, who has been leading the Most Popular Male Artist vote since the poll opened on Dec. 6, has received 1,098,738 votes as of press time on Wednesday, making him the most-voted artist and the only artist to have received more than one million votes.

Lim has had a very busy year this year. The singer kicked off his Korea-wide concert “2023 I’m Hero” at the KSPO Dome in southern Seoul in October and went on to stop in cities including Daegu, Busan, Daejeon and Gwangju. His six Seoul dates brought more than 80,000 concertgoers to the venue.

The gap between Lim and the second-place candidate — none other than BTS’s Jimin — has also widened, as the band member currently sits at 868,731 votes. Jimin dropped his first solo EP, “FACE,” in March and became the first Korean solo artist to top Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Jimin started his mandatory military service on Dec. 12.

Jimin is followed by trot singer Hwang Yeong-woong, who has received a total of 317,442 votes. Stray Kids is in fourth place, Plave is in fifth and Jung Kook of BTS holds sixth.

The poll for the Most Popular Female Artist award at the 38th Golden Disc Awards remains unpredictable, as Blackpink’s Jisoo and Twice are neck and neck, at 272,830 and 234,692 votes respectively. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The poll for the Most Popular Female Artist award, however, remains unpredictable, as Blackpink’s Jisoo and Twice are neck and neck, at 278,222 and 240,406 votes respectively.

Jisoo dropped her first solo single, “ME,” back in March and performed with the group’s “Born Pink” world tour through September. All four members of Blackpink — Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé and Lisa — signed exclusive contracts to continue group activities with their agency, YG Entertainment, in early December.

Twice, similarly, spent this year busy with its fifth world tour, “Ready to Be.” The nine-member girl group kicked off with performances at the KSPO Dome in April, followed by stops in Australia, Japan, the United States, Canada, England, France, Germany and many other nations.

Fifty Fifty is currently in third place, with 44,373 votes, alongside Le Sserafim in fourth place with 29,090 votes, IVE in fifth at 10,736 votes and NMIXX at sixth with 6,960 votes.

The Most Popular Artist awards, divided by gender, are the only Golden Disc Awards decided by popular vote. Fans can weigh in using Favorite, a new fan voting platform created by streaming service Bugs and the JoongAng Group.

Celeb Confirmed, the Korea JoongAng Daily's entertainment news and community platform, is also running an event through which two winners will receive a free ticket to the Golden Disc Awards and accommodation.

Many of 2023's hot and trending K-pop artists will attend and perform at the upcoming Golden Disc Awards, which will take place at the Jakarta International Stadium in Indonesia on Jan. 6. Performers include Seventeen, Stray Kids, ZeroBaseOne, NewJeans, IVE and Le Sserafim.

To find out more about the Golden Disc Awards, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY CHO YONG-JUN [cho.yongjun1@joongang.co.kr]