ENHYPEN wins Album of Year Daesang

ENHYPEN added another top trophy to this year’s K-pop awards circuit after taking the Album of the Year daesang at the 2026 Asia Star Entertainer Awards, according to ceremony coverage published on May 16 and fan-recorded acceptance footage from the venue. (youtube.com) The prize was tied to the group’s 2025 mini album “DESIRE: UNLEASH,” which BELIFT LAB released on June 5, 2025. The win came during the first day of ASEA 2026 at Belluna Dome in Saitama, Japan, where ENHYPEN had already been announced as part of the May 16 performer lineup. (asea.kr) The award matters inside the structure of the show because ASEA classifies Album of the Year as one of its headline categories. The event’s official site says Album of the Year is decided by a 50% weighting for music and album performance data and 50% for judges. ASEA says eligible releases for the 2026 cycle were albums and songs issued between March 1, 2025 and April 30, 2026, placing “DESIRE: UNLEASH” inside the qualifying window. ### When was the award actually handed out? May 16 is the verified ceremony date. (youtube.com) ASEA’s official schedule lists the 2026 show on May 16 and 17 at Belluna Dome in Saitama, Japan, and Soompi’s lineup report said ENHYPEN was set to appear on May 16. The social-media post cited in early circulation was dated May 15, but the official event schedule places the live awards presentation on the following day in Japan. Fan-uploaded video published on May 16 shows ENHYPEN onstage accepting an “Album of the Year (Daesang)” award at ASEA 2026. (asea.kr) That footage aligns with same-day winners coverage from entertainment outlets tracking the ceremony. ### What exactly is “DESIRE: UNLEASH”? BELIFT LAB describes “DESIRE: UNLEASH” as ENHYPEN’s sixth mini album and says it was released on June 5, 2025. Weverse notices from the label also identified June 5, 2025 as the release date and said the project would be accompanied by fan showcase events. (asea.kr) The album sits in a commercially important part of ENHYPEN’s release run because it followed earlier multi-version physical rollouts that are standard in the K-pop market. Weverse Shop listings show several “DESIRE: UNLEASH” editions, including standard versions, a Weverse Albums version and a vinyl version. (youtube.com) ### How does ASEA decide a daesang like Album of the Year? ASEA’s official website says Album of the Year is judged without a fan-vote component. (beliftlab.com) The site assigns 50% to music and album results and 50% to judges, unlike some other categories such as Best Group or Best New Artist, which include fan voting. The same rules page says the broader nominee pool covered releases from March 1, 2025 through April 30, 2026. That means “DESIRE: UNLEASH,” released in June 2025, was eligible throughout the 2026 awards cycle. (shop.weverse.io) ### Why did reports about the win appear before May 16 in some places? May 15 posts likely reflected time-zone differences and pre-broadcast circulation rather than a different ceremony date. ASEA staged the event in Japan, and the official schedule places Day 1 on Saturday, May 16, 2026. Social platforms often show posts in local time and can amplify venue updates, media-room notices or clips before full winner lists are consolidated. (asea.kr) That timing gap is visible here because the show date on ASEA’s site and the May 16 acceptance footage line up more clearly than the earlier social post alone. ### Who else was involved in the first day of ASEA 2026? MONSTA X’s Hyungwon and IVE’s Rei were listed by local coverage as Day 1 hosts, while Lee Jun-ho and Go Youn-jung also appeared in the event’s announced lineup for May 16. Soompi’s lineup updates and ASEA’s official site showed ENHYPEN sharing the first day with acts including &TEAM, IDID, VVUP, DXTEEN and several Japanese performers. (asea.kr) May 17 remains the second day of the ceremony. ASEA’s site and pre-show lineup reports list ATEEZ, Hearts2Hearts, NOWZ, THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE, Wonho, Kwon Eun Bi and xikers among the scheduled participants for the closing day at Belluna Dome. (asea.kr) (financialexpress.com)