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| Members of BTS perform at the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration in New York on Dec. 31, 2019. The K-pop band is nominated for a Grammy Award for best pop duo/group performance with "Dynamite,' their first song to hit the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. AP |
South Korea's K-pop megastar BTS was nominated for the Grammy Award in best pop duo/group performance, becoming the first South Korean pop artist to be nominated for the U.S. music award.
The South Korean boy group was nominated for its latest hit single "Dynamite" in a virtual ceremony streamed live on Tuesday morning (U.S. time).
BTS was one of five nominated in the category, which included "Intentions" by Justin Bieber, featuring Quavo, "Rain On Me" by Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande, and Taylor Swift's "Exile," featuring Bon Iver.
While the group's Billboard-topping album "Love Yourself: Tear" was nominated for best recording package, it's the first time that the seven-piece band has earned a nomination for its music.
BTS, whose member RM had said the Grammys would be the "final part of the whole American journey" in a recent interview with Esquire, reacted on social media.
"Thank you to everyone who listened to our music and empathized with it in difficult times. Above all, it is you ARMY that made the miracle of (us becoming) a Grammy-nominated artist. Thank you and love you always," it said in a Korean tweet.
"Thank you Recording Academy for this great honor," the band added in English.
The band also posted two short clips of four of the band's members ― RM, V, Jimin and Jungkook ― reacting to the nomination as they watched the announcement. RM, Jimin and Jungkook were clapping and standing up, while V appeared to be in a shock.
"Dynamite" became a music sensation earlier this year when it became the first song by a South Korean artist to debut at top of the Billboard's main singles chart, the Hot 100.
The song, the band's first all-English lyric track, reigned atop the chart for two consecutive weeks before slipping to the No. 2 spot, but again climbed back to the summit after two weeks.
Tuesday's nomination also makes the septet the first South Korean act to be nominated for all three major U.S. music awards that include the Billboard Music Awards (BMA) and American Music Awards (AMA).
BTS won Top Social Artist at the BMA for the fourth straight year in 2020. It also won Favorite Duo or Group in Pop/Rock and Favorite Social Artist in the 2020 AMAs, where it put on its first televised performance of new ballad "Life Goes On."
The Grammy Awards will be held Jan. 31 following a final-round voting between Dec. 7 and Jan. 4. (Yonhap)
