Grammy's new Asian Pop category bars BTS's Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 for all-English lyrics

The Grammy Awards just created a new category: "Best Asian Pop Music Performance." One rule. Tracks must "meaningfully use one or more Asian languages." English-only doesn't qualify.

BTS's title track from Arirang is out. The song hit number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It's written entirely in English. The Recording Academy confirmed the exclusion.

The Recording Academy president explained the rationale: "Asian pop is one of the most important and sustained forces in the global music industry." The category exists. BTS's biggest chart moment can't enter it.

BTS was nominated for "Butter" in 2022, then again the next year. Neither won. K-pop's first Grammy trophy went to the Netflix anime K-pop Demon Hunters OST—and it wasn't even handed out during the main ceremony.

So K-pop gets a dedicated Grammy category and simultaneously watches its biggest current hit get locked out of it.

The eligibility language creates a real problem. Write in Korean or another Asian language and you're Grammy-eligible in the new category, but crossover appeal to Western charts narrows. Write in English, top the Hot 100, and the new category won't take you. BTS's Arirang title track is living proof of that tension.

By Lee Ji-young, professor at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.