Kim Hye-yoon & Byun Woo-seok Take 1st Place in 2025 Baeksang Arts Awards Popularity Vote
On May 2, the results for the 2025 Baeksang Arts Awards Popularity Vote were revealed. Rising star Byun Woo-seok and popular actress Kim Hye-yoon secured the top spots in the male and female categories, respectively.
Byun Woo-seok earned over 2.4 million votes, easily surpassing second-place Park Bo-gum. Meanwhile, Kim Hye-yoon triumphed in the female category with nearly 7.9 million votes, followed by Hyeri and IU.
Final Popularity Vote Rankings – TOP 5
Male Category:
- Byun Woo-seok – 2,404,031 votes
- Park Bo-gum – 605,823 votes
- Jung Hae-in – 180,165 votes
- Lee Jun-hyuk – 105,072 votes
- Dex – 87,384 votes
Female Category:
- Kim Hye-yoon – 7,873,877 votes
- Hyeri – 6,923,153 votes
- IU – 3,474,101 votes
- Haewon – 40,209 votes
- Kim Tae-ri – 33,424 votes
However, the 2025 Baeksang Arts Awards Popularity Vote has been marred by allegations of macro manipulation. Concerns have emerged that automated voting systems might have been used to inflate vote counts, especially in the highly competitive female category between Kim Hye-yoon, Hyeri, and IU.
Because of this, netizens’ reactions to the final results have been mixed:
- Congratulations on the Baeksang Macro Popularity Award!
- Hyeri was in first place all along but got overtaken at the last minute, haha. It must’ve been embarrassing for all three of them to receive the award.
- It’s surprising that the female category got more heated.
- The actresses are being mocked so much, and the fandoms are the real losers here.
- Receiving an award like that must be embarrassing for the actors too, haha.
The credibility of the awards is now under scrutiny, as fans and industry insiders demand fair recognition for all nominees.
Despite the controversy, congratulations to Byun Woo-seok and Kim Hye-yoon on their victories!