Highlights
- BTS declined to submit its 2026 release for the 69th Grammys, amid criticism of regional and language-based categorization within awards circuits.
- The decision leaves a top industry player out of contention after their album ARIRANG posted a landmark opening week.
- The group’s parent label HYBE clarified that the decision taken is exclusive to BTS, and that other acts under its subsidiaries can choose to submit their entries if they want.
BTS has pulled out its latest release from the 69th Grammy Awards race, amidst the introduction of the Recording Academy’s latest categories for Asian music. The group announced July 29, 2026, via social media stories that it will not submit its studio album ARIRANG or its individual tracks for awards consideration in its upcoming ceremony, which is scheduled to be held on February 7, 2027.
"We have decided not to submit our work to this year's Grammy Awards," the group said in a joint statement, posted individually on every member’s Instagram stories. "We hope music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language," they added further.
BTS’ Grammy Exit Comes at the Group Peaks Commercially
The decision deprives the Recording Academy of a major commercial force as the Korean group experiences a record-setting year, owing to their comeback album. Released in March, ARIRANG debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 with 641,000 equivalent album units, marking the largest single-week sales figure for any group act in recent years.
BTS members announce that the group will not participate in the Grammy 2027 race (Image Credit: Screen Captured from Instagram)
Notably, BTS had earlier earned three consecutive Grammy nominations for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance between 2021 and 2023. However, the group did not win any of the honors. Last year, Golden, the main song from Netflix's animated feature KPop Demon Hunters, earned the first Grammy award for a K-pop-related track in 2026. The song won the Best Song Written for Visual Media, which raised expectations for BTS winning the same for the 2027 race.
Grammy’s Global Expansion Faces Scrutiny
According to critics, the Asian Pop category is almost like a secondary tier that risks insulating non-Western artists from the Grammys' four main "General Field" honors, which include Album, Record, and Song of the Year, alongside Best New Artist.
However, the Recording Academy's newly revealed Asian categories, which mandate that entries make "meaningful use of one or more Asian languages," explicitly exclude BTS' ARIRANG tracks that were mostly written in English, including the Billboard Hot 100 chart-topping single SWIM. The potential ineligibility for the new genre slot fuels debate over how global acts are classified.
This Asian segment has five new competitive categories, which include titles like Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The Recording Academy has made similar categories for Latin Music as well. Apart from that, major U.S. awards ceremonies like the American Music Awards and Billboard Music Awards have added similar K-pop-specific categories over the past three years, which industry experts have scrutinized as well.
As reported by The Chosun Daily, BTS’ parent company HYBE clarified that the stance is exclusive to the septet only, and that other acts remain free to submit their entries before the Recording Academy's August cutoff. Nevertheless, the move raises questions of participation and engagement for other K-pop acts and broader non-English artists, while pushing Western awards to rethink whether regional categories help or hinder global recognition.
