BTS Secure Historic Grammy Nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance
BTS officially made history, again. On Nov. 24, the Korean band was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 2021 Grammy Awards. The group was nominated for their single “Dynamite” which set records after debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
‘Dynamite’ is BTS’ first English-language song
BTS released “Dynamite” on Aug. 21. The disco-pop track is the K-pop group’s first song to be sung entirely in English. Following its release, the song’s music video achieved 101.1 million views in 24 hours, setting the record for the most-viewed video within its first 24 hours on YouTube.
At the time of its release, “Dynamite” also set a record for the biggest Spotify debut of 2020 with 7,778,950 streams within a day. It became the only song by a Korean artist to ever debut at No. 1 on Spotify’s daily Global Top 50 chart.
BTS made history with “Dynamite” when the song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. This marked BTS’ first No. 1 on the chart, and the septet became the first all-South Korean group to hit No. 1 on the Hot 100.
In its second week, “Dynamite” remained at No. 1, becoming the 20th song in history to debut at No. 1 and stay at No. 1 the following week. The song proved its longevity with U.S. listeners when it re-peaked at No. 1 on the Hot 100 in its fifth week. In total, the song spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard chart.
BTS’ Grammy Awards history
At the 2019 Grammy Awards, HuskyFox was nominated for Best Recording Package for BTS’ album Love Yourself: Tear. The members presented the award for Best R&B at the 2019 Grammy Awards, and they made history as the first-ever Korean act to present at the awards show.
In 2020, BTS took part in the “Old Town Road All-Stars” performance with Billy Ray Cyrus, Lil Nas X, Diplo, and Mason Ramsey. With the collaboration stage, BTS became the first Korean act to ever perform at the Grammy Awards.
The Grammy Awards represented BTS’ next goal
For a long time, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 was one of BTS’ goals. After achieving this, Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook set their sights on being nominated for a Grammy Award and performing a song of their own at the awards show.
“We went to the Grammys at the beginning of the year and we did a collaboration performance. Now I would like to put on a single performance, just BTS on the Grammy Awards stage,” Suga said at a press conference following “Dynamite” debuting at No. 1 on the Hot 100.
RM added, “The Grammy Awards is something all of the performers dream of. Of course, we would like to perform there, too. We would, of course, like to be nominated. It would be great to receive the award. That is the direction we should be headed for.”
BTS officially made history with their Grammy Awards nomination
2020 has been a historic year for BTS. Their album Map of the Soul: 7 became their fourth No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart, and “Dynamite” made history on the Billboard Hot 100. At the beginning of the year, BTS became the first Korean act to perform at the Grammy Awards, and now the group is nominated for a song of their own.
Their fight for recognition in the U.S. is one that has been filled with steady momentum against gatekeeping. It took multiple No. 1 albums, a fan base of millions, broken Guinness World Records, winning awards at other major U.S. music award shows, and finally a No. 1 song to be recognized by the Recording Academy.
After their nomination was announced, BTS posted a video of RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook watching the nominations on Twitter. Like everything with the group, a historic moment was given a personal touch. It was a reminder that even if the nomination feels long overdue for fans, right now, it is a moment of celebration.
The Grammy Awards will take place on Jan. 31, 2021.
