BTS Rejects New Grammy Category, Citing Regional Divisions
The K-pop group will not submit music for the 2026 awards, joining a long history of artists protesting how the Recording Academy classifies global sounds.
By Fatima Saleh ·
For decades, the Recording Academy has struggled to categorize music that crosses cultural and linguistic borders. In 2026, that struggle produced a new award and a high-profile protest from one of the world's biggest bands.
The Academy introduced a category for best Asian pop music performance, defined as contemporary popular music originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including K-Pop, J-Pop, and C-Pop. Eligibility requires the meaningful use of one or more Asian languages. The inaugural nominees will be revealed next week.
BTS announced its decision to boycott the ceremony on social media just over a month after the new category was unveiled. The band, which is currently on a massive comeback tour following its members' mandatory military service in South Korea, released the album Arirang in March. In a statement, the group said it preferred music to be heard for what it is rather than divided by region or language. Stray Kids, another major K-pop act, subsequently announced it would also not submit for consideration.
Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. responded to the boycott on Instagram, stating he was saddened but respected the band's choice. Mason Jr. clarified that the category was designed to celebrate the depth and diversity of pop artistry from Asia, not to divide artists. He noted that more categories allow the Academy's 15,000 voters to recognize more work, arguing the goal was to expand recognition rather than segregate it.
Mathieu Berbiguier, a visiting assistant professor of Korean studies at Carnegie Mellon University, described the new category as a double-edged sword. While it offers a platform for music from across the Asian continent, he argued it risks sidelining K-pop from general categories. Berbiguier noted that K-pop is a system of training and debut rather than a traditional genre, and the label is often applied by foreign industries to define South Korean popular music. He said the separate category suggests the Academy wants to acknowledge Asian artists without mixing them into what it considers the mainstream.
BTS has previously received five Grammy nominations, including for best pop duo or group performance, but has never won the award. In February, the song Golden from the film KPop Demon Hunters became the first K-pop track to win a Grammy. Berbiguier pointed out that Bang Si-Hyuk, founder of HYBE, the conglomerate behind BTS, previously suggested dropping the K prefix to help the music expand globally. RM, a member of BTS, also called the debate over the label important for the industry.
The dispute over the Asian pop category fits a long pattern of artists challenging the Academy's classification methods. In 1989, artists including LL Cool J and Public Enemy boycotted the ceremony after the Academy refused to televise the new best rap performance award. In 2016, Frank Ocean declined to submit his album Blonde for consideration, calling the voting system dated. Tyler, the Creator, who won best rap album in 2020, described the category as a backhanded compliment, leading the Academy to rename the urban contemporary category to best progressive R&B album six months later.
The Academy has also faced criticism for consolidating categories in smaller genres. In 2011, the organization reduced its total awards from 109 to 78, merging Native American, Zydeco, and Cajun music into a single regional roots category. Four Latin jazz musicians filed a class-action lawsuit over these changes, claiming the cuts impacted their livelihoods, though the case was later dismissed and the category reinstated. The global music category was also cut in half during that period, which producer Ian Brennan said pushed out smaller regional musicians in favor of larger names.
In recent years, the Academy has added categories for best global music album, best global music performance, and best African music performance. The new Asian pop award aims to further expand this inclusion. Bad Bunny made history earlier this year when his album DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS became the first Spanish-language record to win album of the year. Miist, a Chinese singer and voting member of the Recording Academy, said the new category provides an opportunity for artists who record in multiple languages to be discovered by the voting body.
