CD Shop Awards

The CD Shop Awards (CDショップ大賞) is an annual set of music awards presented in Japan. It is sponsored by All-Japan CD Shop Employees Union and awarded based on votes by CD shop employees from all over Japan, with the goal of bringing awareness to underappreciated, high quality Japanese records. It is referred to as a "music edition of Japan Booksellers' Award".

History
The CD Shop Awards was started in 2008, inspired by the Japan Booksellers' Award.

The first edition included Grand Prix and Runner-Up awards. Starting from the second edition, regional award and western music award were added. The fourth edition introduced the Newcomer Award, Maestro Award, and Live Performance Award awards. Sixth edition featured new categories, such as Classical Award, Jazz Award, and Enka Award.

In 2019, two categories for the Grand Prix award were added: "red" – overall best record, and "blue" – great record by an up-and-coming artist.

Voting
All CD shop employees (including part-time employees) can vote via online poll, SMS, or fax. In the first round, voters select three albums. After that, top 20 albums make its way into second round. In the end, each voter pick three albums out of top 20 and results are finalized to determine the winner.

Best Newcomer Award
Awarded from the sixth CD Shop Awards.