One of the most popular musical names in the world right now, BTS, keeps making headlines. Turns out, they’re just as big as all those Western mega stars.
It’s a new world, K-Pop is suddenly immensely popular, mostly due to the success of BTS and their gradual introduction into markets outside of Asia.
BTS is a South Korean boyband made up of seven members, gaining traction in 2016, the group now has international recognition and a massive presence online. They’re hailed for their impeccable choreography, catchy lyrics, and ambitious ways of making music.
According to sources, the group rakes in over US $3.6 billion dollars for the South Korean economy every year and have made US $57 million over the past year. They currently stand as both the highest paid boy band and the highest paid K-Pop act.
This US $57 million figure puts them as the 43rd highest paid celebs according to Forbes, though this is still short of Taylor Swift who has the top spot with US $185 million.
MTV recently announced it will introduce a new K-Pop award for its annual Video Music Awards show. On the surface this sounds well and good, but fans are worried it’s a way to stop BTS from picking up more prestigious awards in the night.
bts outsold,,,, EVERY SINGLE,,, artist in the artist of the year category but the vmas didn’t wanna see that so they made a whole new category just to not acknowledge the power and influence bts has had over the whole industry throughout 2019. a JOKE pic.twitter.com/5kJMhtfKkM
— CHI0MA (@THICJ00N) July 23, 2019
For the awards night, BTS is up for four: one is of course the K-Pop category, with the rest being best collaboration, best art direction, and best choreography.
The top prizes though, top song, artist(s), or video of the year, is something BTS have not been considered for. The lack of the top video nomination is especially odd as the band this year created the most viewed in 24 hours song video. The song ‘BoyWithLuv’ got 100 million views in under two days.
Yes, we're still running the numbers, but we can confirm that #BoyWithLuv (ft. @Halsey) is now *officially* the most-viewed 24 hour debut in @YouTube history!! Congratulations @bts_bighit Enjoy @nbcsnl tonight! pic.twitter.com/xC8vHs27Nu
— YouTube Music (@youtubemusic) April 14, 2019
BTS this year have also sold more physical albums than Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Lil Nas X, Billie Eillish, 21 Savage and the Jonas Brothers.
David Bakula, senior vice president of global leadership at Nielsen Music, told MarketWatch that BTS has become too mainstream not to be a contender for MTV’s top awards.
“Look, if they are only being considered for the K-Pop category simply because they are a K-Pop band, and not being recognized as a global pop phenomenon, then I think they are being a little short sold,” he said. “Because they certainly do have the reach, the consumption and the popularity of any of those other artists that they’re up against.”
Whether or not you think they should get top awards like other Western artists, it’s undeniable to say they aren’t globally successful.
