When TREASURE's So Junghwan reached for the M Countdown trophy on June 11, 2026, the ceremony transcended routine music show protocol: the group's own MC and regular program host had just handed the award to his bandmates. 'IF I,' the lead track from TREASURE's third mini album New Wav, had accumulated 6,328 points against aespa's 'Lemonade' (6,001 points) in one of the week's closest countdowns — and TREASURE's first-ever win on the long-running Mnet program.
THE SCORING: HOW TREASURE WON 'IF I' ON M COUNTDOWN
aespa edged ahead in the opening scoring category, but TREASURE surged across the remaining four segments — digital, physical, audience vote, and broadcast — to close with a 327-point margin. The result was the tightest M Countdown race the group had contested since debuting under YG Entertainment in August 2020. For a group navigating lineup changes and multiple comeback cycles without a top-show trophy, the numbers validated what their fanbase had been building toward throughout the New Wav era.
'IF I' is a hip-hop-inflected track built around YG's in-house production, with a melodic chorus that broadens the song's radio and streaming reach beyond a hardcore fanbase. Its placement as the lead single on New Wav — a deliberately varied six-track release spanning hip-hop, pop, and R&B — gave TREASURE the genre flexibility to compete across multiple M Countdown scoring categories simultaneously.
JUNGHWAN'S DUALITY: M COUNTDOWN HOST AND TROPHY WINNER
The win produced one of the 2026 music show season's most circulated moments. Junghwan — who joined M Countdown's MC rotation earlier this year alongside Park Kun-wook and Kick Flip — was mid-broadcast when TREASURE was announced as the winner. He paused, let out a startled yell, and crossed the stage to hand the trophy to the rest of the group. Haruto, TREASURE's Japanese member, delivered a tearful acceptance speech that spread rapidly across fan platforms within hours of the broadcast.
The duality of Junghwan's position — professional host and group member — created something unusual: a presenter with direct skin in the outcome, live on national television, handling the result with visible shock before completing the ceremony. Clips of the handoff were among the most-shared K-pop content of the June music show cycle.
TREASURE IN 2026: A WIN THAT MATTERS
TREASURE entered 2026 with significant pressure on the current eight-member lineup to demonstrate staying power after a series of formation changes since their 2020 debut. The IF I win is their highest-profile music show result to date and arrives during a broader YG Entertainment resurgence: BLACKPINK members' ongoing solo visibility, aespa's chart dominance, and Stray Kids' global touring cycle have all kept agency acts in competition with each other for weekly show slots.
TREASURE has since logged additional chart activity in subsequent weeks, with New Wav continuing to perform across streaming platforms. The first trophy typically signals a group's transition from promising act to music show contender — a status TREASURE has now formally entered.
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