In 2019, BTS breaking YouTube records and making history on music charts is of little surprise to anyone remotely attuned to the current state of pop culture. The South Korean septet is undeniably At The Top when it comes to interest from audiences, and recently performed in front of 120,000 people during the kick-off weekend of their Love Yourself: Speak Yourself stadium concert series at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles. But when it comes to recognition at American award shows, the state of existence for BTS has been quite a bit different. But things changed at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards (BBMAs) on May 1. As they were named the top group of the night at the Billboard-based award show, the BBMA win signaled a major moment not only for BTS and their career but for the entire state of music in the 21st century.
Up until this past week, the group had gone unrecognized for their musical accomplishments at Stateside music award shows despite attending some of the music world’s biggest events since 2017: at past BBMAs and the American Music Awards, BTS had been awarded only in fan-oriented, social media categories, and the 2019 Grammys saw the design of their album Love Yourself: Tear gain a nomination, but not the K-pop act itself, who appeared as presenters rather than performers. When the seven men were named the top duo or group of the year during NBC’s telecast of this year's BBMAs, it was acknowledgement not only of the group’s prowess in attracting fans but also listeners, and but also a sign of recognition that a team of seven men from South Korea could compete in the upper echelons of the music world, unhindered by physical or linguistic limitations.
Receiving a nod in a talent-based category for the first time from any of the United States’ main music award shows itself is a big deal for BTS. But it also more generally serves as acknowledgement that they are a competitor on the same scale as the rival acts they went up against in the BBMAs’ Top Groups/Duo category, some of which have been mainstays in the industry for over a decade. Even though they were competing against Dan + Shay, Imagine Dragons, Maroon 5 and Panic! at the Disco, BTS took the award home.
On an individual level, BTS’ being named the Top Group of the night was recognition of their reach as artists able to win over audiences with their music, drawing the attention of millions of listeners throughout the U.S. and across the globe. But it was also recognition that increasingly the Stateside music market is ready for artists hailing from across that very planet, regardless of whether they’re singing in English or not. Over the past few years, BTS has been able to simultaneously grow beyond the fandom niche that K-pop was until recently relegated to in the U.S., and become a mainstream musical success, and done so without vacillating from their roots as a Korean and South Korea-based act. The BBMAs giving a major award to a group not only based outside of the North American industry but also one dedicated to focusing on multiple markets simultaneously at any given time is a nod of recognition to the future of music not being based in a single region or country but the entire planet.
It was a new look for the BBMAs: though there’s been a growing amount of non-English music making its way into the American music scene, with Spanish songs in particular becoming more normalized, the annual award show features distinct categories for Latin artists, although an occasional name or two, like Cardi B, is typically recognized in the main categories. Despite typical relegation of non-English musical acts into distinct categories, BTS surpassed the limitations often put on foreign language artists in the U.S. market and were recognized as one of the biggest acts currently thriving in the market, against all odds.
With the declaration that BTS is on par, and in this case the best of the bunch, with longstanding top musical acts in one of the main music categories of a mainstream award show in one the world’s largest music market, it’s a nod that the limits previously thought to be on foreign musical acts in the U.S., at least in regards to award shows, no longer exist.
BTS’ big win is just the start for the Stateside industry’s growing recognition that it is just one hub in the increasingly intertwined international music scene, but it won’t be the end of it. Today (May 6), Billboard announced that it would be launching the Global 100, a chart tracking worldwide song hits, as well as an upcoming internationally-focused conference. “The current musical landscape is no longer defined by borders and The Global 100 will further unify the music world by providing the definitive view of today’s top hits,” said Deanna Brown, president of the Billboard – The Hollywood Reporter Media Group.
