With the conclusion of first-round voting for the 68th Grammy Awards, the music industry is closely watching to see if K-pop, a dominant global force, can finally secure its first win at the prestigious ceremony.
Hosted by the Recording Academy since 1959, the Grammys are considered the American music industry’s highest honor, but a golden gramophone has remained elusive for K-pop artists. This includes multiple nominations for supergroup BTS between 2021 and 2023 without a win.
Optimism is high for the upcoming awards, which cover releases from August 31, 2024, to August 30, 2025. Leading the charge are two major hits submitted for the top general categories: Record of the Year and Song of the Year. BLACKPINK vocalist Rosé and Bruno Mars’ single “APT.” and “Golden,” the breakout track from the Netflix animated film “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” are both in contention. Their respective albums, “Rosie” and “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” have also been submitted for Album of the Year.
“APT.” is also vying for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Music Video. The globally successful “Golden” has been entered in several fields, including Best Pop Duo/Group Performance and Best Song Written for Visual Media, after dominating both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and U.K. charts for multiple weeks.
Beyond these front-runners, a diverse array of K-pop’s biggest names are also in the running. The Record of the Year category features submissions from all four members of BLACKPINK, BTS members Jin, RM, and J-Hope, as well as top groups like Seventeen, TXT, and Stray Kids.
Submissions for Album of the Year include projects from Jennie, Lisa, Jin, Seventeen, and Stray Kids. In the Best New Artist category, groups KATSEYE, aespa, and Ateez are competing for a nomination. The highly competitive Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category includes entries from IVE, Le Sserafim, Ateez, and RIIZE.
This wave of submissions follows a particularly disappointing year for the genre, where no K-pop artists received nominations, even as members of BTS released commercially successful solo projects during their military hiatus. The omission fueled renewed criticism that the Recording Academy was overlooking K-pop’s significant cultural and commercial impact. To date, soprano Sumi Jo and classical recording engineer Hwang Byeong-joon are the only Korean artists to have won a Grammy.
The final list of nominees will be announced on November 7. Final-round voting is scheduled from December 12 to January 5, culminating in the 68th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony on February 1, 2026, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
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