LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 03: (L-R) V, Suga, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin and J-Hope of BTS attend the ... [+]
Fans of the South Korean boy band BTS were thrilled when the nominees for the 2023 Grammy Awards were named yesterday (November 15), as the group landed not one, not two, but three chances to take home some gold. While BTS has been nominated for the biggest honor in the music industry before, this year is their most impressive yet, and they made history this time around.
BTS are now the first K-pop group to end up in any of the top four categories at the Grammys–Album, Record, and Song of the Year, as well as Best New Artist–which are considered the most competitive and most important. The band is a current nominee for Album of the Year, though not for their own collection.
The winners will be announced during the live ceremony, which airs on February 5, 2023 on CBS.
The septet earned their first Album of the Year nomination as a featured artist on Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres, which ended up as one of the 10 titles that are in the running for the prize. They are joined by fellow featured guests We Are KING, Jacob Collier, and pop superstar Selena Gomez. According to Recording Academy rules, all credited featured artists on any track on a full-length nominated for Album of the Year also earn the nod as well. Songwriters do as well, so three BTS members–J-Hope, RM, and Suga are nominated as people who penned at least one cut on the title (though it still counts as just one nomination for the musicians).
In addition to their Album of the Year nomination, BTS also earned nods in both the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance (“My Universe” with Coldplay) and Best Music Video (their own “Yet To Come”) categories. The latter honor marks their first time in that field, while the band has been in the running for the pop vertical three years in a row, though they’ve never won.
Two years in a row, BTS songs have been predicted by many to earn nods in the Record of the Year category, though somehow they never quite ended up appearing on the list of possible winners. Both “Dynamite” and “Butter” were some of the biggest songs of their years, and while they did rack up Grammy nominations in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance field, they didn’t take home any gold, and they weren’t recognized by the Recording Academy outside of that one nod.
With a trio of Grammy nominations in 2023, BTS have more than doubled their total number of nods. They started off with two previous nominations, and now they count five throughout their career. They remain the only K-pop act to earn a Grammy nomination at all, though there were several names this time around who appeared on prediction lists, such as Blackpink and Stray Kids, but they didn’t end up being named.
Music of the Spheres is up against some truly tough competition, so there’s no telling if Coldplay–and therefore BTS and many others who worked on the album–will take home the trophy. The other nine nominees for Album of the Year are: Adele’s 30, Mary J. Blige’s Good Morning Gorgeous, Harry Styles’ Harry's House, Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days, Kendrick Lamar’s Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Beyoncé’s Renaissance, Lizzo’s Special, Bad Bunny’s Un Verano Sin Ti, and ABBA’s Voyage.
