The band will not submit an entry to the Grammys this year.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
In March 2026, at the Oscars, songwriter EJAE accepted the award for Best Original Song as part of the songwriting team behind ‘Golden’, the hit song from the film KPop Demon Hunters and the first K-pop song to win the award. Speaking to the room, she recalled how people had once mocked her for pursuing the genre. That night, nobody in the room doubted K-pop’s global appeal or its place on the biggest stage.But four and a half months later, all seven members of BTS posted on Instagram that they would not submit an entry to the Grammys this year. This came despite their album ARIRANG topping the Billboard 200, the Circle Album Chart, Oricon, and the British and German album charts, while its lead single, ‘SWIM’, had given them a seventh No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. BTS declined to submit anyway, saying they hoped music could be heard and loved without being divided by region or language.What changed between March and July was the introduction of a new category. On June 16, the Recording Academy, which presents the Grammys and is separate from the Academy that presents the Oscars, announced the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category for the 2027 Grammys, stipulating that qualifying recordings must make meaningful use of an Asian language; entirely English-language recordings are not eligible. ‘SWIM’, sung mostly in English, would therefore not have qualified for the category that some had speculated was created with BTS in mind.The band, one of the most globally influential acts, was unwilling to accept the new categorisation and announced that it would not submit its music for Grammy consideration. Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr., expressing his disappointment over their decision, defended the new category in a statement. “The Asian Pop category was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia. More categories mean more artists’ work is recognised. It’s never to divide, but to expand who is recognised by our 15,000 Grammy voters,” he said. “I also want to be very clear: submitting music in a genre category such as Asian Pop or Jazz does not exclude an artist from also submitting and being considered in the General Field categories,” he added.
