Taipei: The Golden Melody Awards (GMA) kicked off at 7 p.m. on Saturday at Taipei Arena, celebrating achievements by artists in the local pop music industry.

According to Focus Taiwan, now in their 36th year, the Golden Melody Awards, organized by Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture (MOC), remain the most prestigious music awards in the Mandarin-speaking world. In 2014, Billboard described the awards as the “Grammys of the Mandarin pop world.”

Highlights of the 2025 GMA ceremony included the red carpet event, a prelude to the main show, as well as interviews with dozens of arriving celebrities and performing artists. The MOC reported that 169 works have been selected to compete across 27 award categories this year.

Among this year’s nominees, Sony Music Entertainment Taiwan Ltd. stood out with 11 nominations, the highest of any company. The album “AAA” by Taiwanese indie band Sunset Rollercoaster and South Korean band Hyukoh led the pack with seven nominations, making it the most recognized work of the year.

This year’s special contribution award was presented to composer-producer Weng Xiao-liang and the late Taiwanese singer Ma Chao-chun, while the jury award went to late Hong Kong-American singer Khalil Fong for his album “The Dreamer.” In Taiwan, Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV) broadcasted the red carpet event and the awards ceremony, which was also streamed live online by Line Today and Line Music.