The ‘2011 Melon Music Awards‘ launched its first round of online votes back in October, asking netizens to narrow down Melon’s list of 30 nominees to 10. Votes flooded in from October 27th to November 6th, and on the 7th, Melon revealed which 10 artists made the cut.
The music site announced that 2011′s Top 10 artists were Super Junior, IU, f(x), 2NE1, Leessang,Park Jung Hyun, B2ST, Big Bang, SECRET, and SISTAR. Results were determined by a combination of album sales scores (80%) and online votes (20%).
This year’s Top 10 list included some surprises. While the expected idol champions made the list, many were surprised to see the names of Park Jung Hyun (a star from MBC‘s ‘I Am a Singer’) and hip hop duo Leessang.
Melon kicked off its second round of votes on November 7th to determine the ultimate top artist. Results from the second round will be revealed at the awards ceremony on November 24th at the Seoul Olympic Stadium.