LINE MUSIC have announced the creation of a new category at MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026, introducing the Fandom Special Award titled “Best Fandom Artist powered by LINE MUSIC & Yahoo! Search”.
The award forms part of LINE MUSIC’s partnership with MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN, the country’s largest international music award established in 2025. While more than 5,000 music industry professionals vote to decide most categories, LINE MUSIC will determine the Best Fandom Artist award using behavioural data. The company will draw metrics from LINE MUSIC’s song playback figures and search data from Yahoo! Japan (Yahoo!検索), tracking how often users listen to and search for artists each day.
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Because the category relies exclusively on LINE MUSIC and Yahoo! Japan data, it measures fan activity within Japan rather than global search or streaming metrics. LINE MUSIC says it introduced the award to visualise the accumulation of these behaviours and link them to the wider development of Japan’s music scene.
Through the project, LINE and Yahoo! Japan parent company LY Corporation say they aim to create what they describe as an “action-driven music culture”, in which users’ everyday listening and search behaviour forms the foundation for supporting artists’ activities.
MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2026 will take place on June 13th at TOYOTA ARENA TOKYO, with Award Week scheduled from June 5th to June 13th across multiple venues. Further details on the eligibility criteria and the timeframe for counting listening and search activity will be announced at a later date.
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