TJ Monterde, Maki, Dionela, and Jay R Nominated For The First MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN
The four Filipino artists are notably nominated for their hits that have notably become chart-toppers in the Philippines in the past year.
TJ Monterde: courtesy of Cornerstone. Maki: photographed by Shaira Luna. Dionela: courtesy of @dionelaofficial. Jay R: @rnbjayr
Courtesy of Cornerstone
TJ Monterde, Maki, Dionela, and Jay R have been nominated for two categories at the first ever MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN.
Officially holding its first ever iteration this year, MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN or MAJ is a highly anticipated music awards event that is expected to become the “Asian version of the Grammy Awards” and is slated to be Japan’s “largest music awards show.” It was founded by “the five major organizations in the Japanese music industry” — the Recording Industry Association of Japan, Japan Association of Music Enterprises, the Federation of Music Producers Japan, Music Publishers Association of Japan, and All Japan Concert & Live Entertainment Promoters Conference.
Set to be held on May 21 and 22, 2025 at the famous Rohm Theatre Kyoto in Japan’s Kyoto prefecture, MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN 2025 will have awards across 60 or so categories, including six major ones. In addition, these categories are divided into sub-categories: 23 divisions for the Song category, 7 in the International Song category, 5 in the Album category, 12 in the Artist category, and 3 in the Alliance category.
Among all these categories, two contain the same four Filipino artists. Namely, these artists are TJ Monterde, Maki, Dionela, and Jay R — all acts with songs who have notably topped the charts in the Philippines. These songs are Monterde’s “Palagi,” Maki’s “Dilaw,” and Dionela and Jay R’s “sining.”
Best Song Asia
The first category these four songs are nominated in is the Best Song Asia category. It is one of the six major categories, notably highlighting the “Asian songs that have become hits in Asia.” Nominees were “decided from the top 3 songs from the 2024 year-end charts of Asian countries/regions excluding Japan.” For the first-ever MAJ, songs from a number of East and Southeast Asian countries were considered for nominees, including the Philippines. Meanwhile, the other eligible countries are South Korea, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The winner will be decided by the official voting members of MAJ. Check out the full list of nominees here.
Best of Listeners’ Choice: International Song powered by Spotify
The second category these songs are nominated in is Best of Listeners’ Choice: International Song — an award given to a domestic song has become a global hit. Powered by Spotify, this category is part of the General Voting or Listeners’ Choice categories where “one best work will be decided from 30 works chosen as nominees through Spotify’s voting function.” For this category, fans are given the power to choose the winner of the award through voting function on an official Spotify playlist where listeners can are give three (3) votes per day to vote for their favorite songs. Using the Spotify mobile app, votes can be casted here.
Check out the official playlist for MUSIC AWARDS JAPAN’s Best of Listeners’ Choice – International Song, featuring TJ Monterde, Maki, Dionela, and Jay R below: