Arirang by BTS is on pace to become the best selling kpop album globally of all time, currently at 12.5M units (according to chartmasters).
They are projected to surpass their own album, Be (14.8M).
Today's #GlobalPopFrenzy show kicked off with Aliens by BTS.
It takes tremendous courage to stand by your work and beliefs. We are proud of BTS and all artists throughout the world who continue to share their music and art with us despite the hurdles and obstacles in their way. We see you. We honor you. We thank you.
โWe hope our music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language. We thank Army and everyone who has always stood by us." - BTS
FunFact: The Grammys know that BTS could win most of the major categories at the 2027 Grammys, so they introduced the Best Asian Pop Music Performance category to limit BTS from winning in the main categories.
And I think itโs okay to admit that in all this, there is hurt.
The hurt of knowing how much love, artistry and sweat went into the making of ARIRANG, only to deliberately exclude it from being recognised in response to institutional tokenism and xenophobia.
I don't think people fully understand the magnitude of this decision.
Some of the music industry's most respected producers, writers, engineers, and creatives worked on ARIRANG. A project built to the highest artistic standard. One producer even spoke publicly about hoping the album would receive Grammy recognition.
Then the Recording Academy introduced a category specifically for Asian pop.
And BTS chose not to submit.
Think about that. The biggest musical project of the year. One of the strongest commercial and artistic contenders. A project that could have competed across multiple major categories. It simply won't be in the race because the artists chose principle over prestige.
Moves like this don't happen often. When artists at BTS' level willingly walk away from the biggest stage in music, the conversation shifts because of what they refused to endorse.