Let’s take a look back at the successful year BTS have had despite the odds.
From breaking records set by the Beatles to speaking at the United Nations, the South Korean K-pop group BTS are no strangers to reaching their goals and they have once again made history by becoming the first Korean act to ever obtain a Grammy nomination.
They received a nomination for the category of Best Pop Duo/Group Performance back in November, and it was recently announced that they will also be the first Korean act to perform at the 63rd Grammy Awards on March 14th. It has been hinted at that the group shall be performing their hit song ‘Dynamite’ for the awards show.
However, this will not be BTS’s first ever time at the Grammys as they have previously attended as presenters of the Best RnB award in 2019 and in 2020, they took part in a performance of ‘Old Town Road’ alongside Lil Nas X, Billy Ray Cyrus, and others.
The designer of their album, ‘Love Yourself: Tear’ also received a nomination in 2019 for Best Recording Package. However, this year’s nomination will be the first time the group themselves have been acknowledged by the Recording Academy for their hard work.
To reflect back on the past year BTS has had, one would have to look at their release of their album ‘Map of the Soul: Seven’, which was released in February of 2020. The album topped the UK album charts as well as the Billboard top 200 Albums Chart.
The album was titled as ‘Seven’ in reference to the seven members of the group but also to commemorate the group’s seven years together since debut. The album went on to win the Guinness World Records title for the best-selling album (South Korea) with it selling 4,265, 617 copies. The album also reached number 1 on the US Billboard 200 and the UK’s official album chart.
Despite the pandemic causing BTS to cancel their world tour, BTS have managed to grow even more in popularity this year and reach a whole new group of listeners through their hit song ‘Dynamite’ which was released in August 2020. The song is their first English single and while the group had not initially planned on its release, the members felt that their fans needed an upbeat song to cheer everyone up and that the song could provide some joy and cheer during such difficult times.
‘Dynamite’ went on to break multiple records within the first 24 hours of its release such as having the biggest YouTube premiere ever with a live view count of between 3 to 4 million people eagerly waiting for the music video to release. The music video also got 101.1 million views within the first 24 hours of its release, and the song went on to set a new record on Spotify by debuting at No.1 on Spotify’s Daily Top 50 Chart with 7,778,950 streams on its first day.
BTS also came out with another album titled ‘BE’ in November 2020 and the album went on to smash even more records with over a million copies being sold within the first half hour of its release, making it the fastest selling album in K-pop history.
This album was entirely self-produced by the group, including the music video for their title track ‘Life Goes On’ which seeks to provide comfort regarding the pandemic and how life will go on and get better one day. The song went on to become the first Korean song to top the Billboard Hot 100, despite getting next to no radio play.
BTS have millions of fans all around the world named ARMY who have provided the members with the wings needed to soar so high and achieve so much.
Upon hearing about the recent Grammy nomination and the announcement of their performance, Audrey-Anne Cassar, 24, from Malta expressed her pride in the group and said, “I think this is an important moment in music and cultural history because it shows diversity and progress. Moreover, BTS have started from the bottom and worked very hard to get to where they are now, so to see them achieve something like this is brilliant!”
She went on to say, “I think this will be a good opportunity for more people to get to know them and find out about the heart-warming messages behind their songs.”
BTS have accomplished much over the last seven years with the help of their ARMY fanbase and regardless of if they win the Grammy award or not, one cannot help but be proud of all they have achieved and anticipate what shall come next from the group and if their past performances are anything to go by, their performance on the 14th March at 8pm ET (which is 1am on Monday for the UK) is not one to be missed!
Watch BTS react to their Grammy nomination:
