Stray Kids, aespa, TOMORROW X TOGETHER & Charlie Puth Headline 2026 TIMA Honors in Hong Kong

The second annual TMElive International Music Awards spanned two days and included more than 30 performers. Stray Kids perform at TIMA 2026 in Hong Kong Courtesy of TIMA Trending on Billboard Stray Kids, aespa, TOMORROW X TOGETHER and Charlie Puth were among the headliners for the 2026 TMElive International Music Awards, held across two days in Hong Kong this week (Aug. 22-23). The TIMA honors, which were held for the first time last year in Macao and are put on by Chinese music giant Tencent, moved to Hong Kong’s Kai Tak Arena for this year’s edition. The weekend-long event featured more than 30 artists from China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, the United States and more performing on the arena’s main stage, interspersed with awards and speeches. During the event, Stray Kids won international group of the year; TOMORROW X TOGETHER won the award for best international group – male; aespa won best international group – female; BABYMONSTER won global icon group; Super Junior won most influential international group of the year; Puth won international artist of the year; and TAEYEON won most influential international artist of the year, among the two-dozen-plus awards handed out across two days. Courtesy TIMA Taeyong, from South Korean boy band NCT, opened the event on Saturday (Aug. 22) with his solo single “WYLD,” the title track off his first full-length solo album released earlier this year. Acts were then given between five and 30 minutes to perform selections for the tens of thousands in attendance, including Daniel Seavey (formerly of Why Don’t We) who performed his new solo single “Love’s A Gun”; AllDay Project, who performed their single “Famous” during their set; as well as Yeonjun, BABYMONSTER, RIIZE, aespa and TOMORROW X TOGETHER. Closing out night one was a set from trailblazing South Korean group Super Junior. Sunday (Aug. 23) opened with sets from rising artists like Korean-Japanese group NEXZ and Thai singer NuNew, as well as Korean girl group MEOVV, digital avatar collective PLAVE, and hitmakers such as NMIXX, NCT WISH and IVE. Girls’ Generation alum TAEYEON delivered a powerful rendition of her solo song “Letter To Myself” before Puth performed “One Call Away” and his massive, Billboard Hot 100-topping Wiz Khalifa collaboration “See You Again” with just a piano and acoustic guitar accompaniment. Stray Kids — riding high as their latest album, This & That, had just become their ninth straight release to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — closed out night two with “S-Class,” “Topline” and more favorites. Courtesy TIMA Get weekly rundowns straight to your inbox Sign Up