The final hours of voting for the M1 Music Awards are ticking down: over 700,000 votes have already been cast

The online voting for the M1 Music Awards, which has been running for almost a month on m1apdovanojimai.lt, is coming to an end. Everyone can still cast their vote for the Best of the Year until this Friday evening at 19:00. The winners of the thirteen nominations will be announced in less than two weeks, on December 3rd, during the awards ceremony at Kaunas Žalgiris Arena.

Voting link: bit.ly/4raQqLl

By the last day of voting, a total of 727 000 votes had been cast. In the first day alone, a record number of over 100,000 votes were received.

"The figures clearly show that the Best of the Year will be the best in Lithuania. And most importantly - the best for those for whom the music is created - the listeners, the fans who come to the concerts, the fans who sing along with the memorised lyrics and connect the most important events in their lives with their favourite pieces. There are no rules here, no definitions of what is good music and what is bad. There is only the feeling inside a person that comes or goes with the melody, and that is what each creator struggles for. This time it was the public who had to "fight" for what they consider the best, and it is only the voting public who will decide who will wear the chains of the M1 Music Awards," says Arnoldas Eisimantas, programme director and host of M1 radio station.

And the opportunity to show your support for your favourites is already in its final hours. Tonight at 19:00, after the voting has been suspended, all the data will be collected by the auditing company Gran Thornton Baltic and only after the auditors' verification will the names of the top vote-getters start to be engraved on the chains.

As a reminder, the M1 Music Awards will announce the winners in a total of 13 categories. 3 of them are special categories where no voting will take place ("For the Sound in the World" will be chosen by the M1 team, "All Lithuanian Music" will be chosen by Lietaus, and "Music Producer of the Year" will be announced by the AGATA representatives).

The 5 nominees in each category were selected solely on the basis of statistics collected by AGATA on the biggest radio stations and music listening platforms, data provided by ticket distributors and other music industry indicators. The sixth one could be nominated by the people. The nominees who were mentioned the most times by them completed the top five nominees and became equal contenders in the subsequent voting.

At the awards event on 3 December, from 5 pm onwards, not only the nominees, many singers, bands and musicians who will perform spectacularly on stage that evening, but also famous guests - the cream of the crop of the world of entertainment, fashion, social networks, business, and the most prominent heroes of magazine and portal articles - will walk the blue carpet. Anyone who wants to watch live the hottest events in the VIP area and hear interviews with celebrities will be able to do so by logging on to the 15min news portal. From 5 pm to 7 pm, there will be a special Blue Carpet broadcast, hosted by the sharp-tongued stylist Milda Metlovaitė and M1 Youth Service provocateurs Gustas Ramonas and Joris Bačiulis.

And the M1 Music Awards ceremony itself will start at 19:30 in Kaunas Žalgiris Arena and will be broadcast live on LNK. The event will be hosted by M1 presenters Arnoldas Eisimantas, Paulius Vaitiekūnas, Skaiva Jasevičiūtė, Saulius Žvirgždas, Ričardas Mikavičius, Mantas Bružas, Gustas Ramonas, Joris Bačiulis, Gedas Saročka, Tomas Jazdauskas, Evaldas Mikalauskas, and the best of the year will be announced and the celebrities will be interviewed at their tables. Rolandas Mackevičius will also join this group.

The organisers promise to announce the full list of stars who will appear on stage soon, the names that have been announced so far are Donatas Montvydas, Gabrielė Vilkickytė, Justinas Jarutis, Džordana Butkutė, Despotin Fam, Žemaitukai, Gabrielius Vagelis and Giedrė, "Šeškės", Petunija, a quintet of stage legends (Rosita Čivilytė, Egidijus Sipavičius, Neda Malūnavičiūtė, Steponas Januška and Česlovas Gabalis), the duo Abor & Tynna, who represented Germany at Eurovision this year, and the Latvian band Tautumeitas. And that's not all! The legendary radio duo Tomaz & Maraz will be revived here, and more surprises are on the way for the forthcoming event.

Those who want to watch it all live at Žalgiris Arena Kaunas can still buy tickets. They are sold by Bilietai.lt. Tickets are fast disappearing, most of the sectors are already sold out, and VIP+ tickets are unfortunately no longer on sale.

To M1 Music Awards 3 December on the day of the event at Kaunas Žalgiris Arena 12 left days.