Why K-pop’s Big 4 skipped the Grammys’ new Asian pop award

Last checked 2026-10-26

Short answer

No act from Hybe, SM, JYP or YG entered Best Asian Pop Music Performance, according to the prediction site The Grammy Guru; the Academy has not published entrants. Only BTS gave a reason, saying music should not be divided by region or language. Hybe acts Enhypen and Katseye entered pop categories instead, and Katseye also entered the general field. The category's reported entries lean toward J-pop.

• What happened The Recording Academy's new Asian pop award drew 116 submissions, with no entries from Korea's four largest agencies, per The Grammy Guru via Korea Times.
• Why it matters A category built with K-pop in mind may end up defined by J-pop and Filipino pop, while the biggest Korean acts compete elsewhere or not at all.
• What is confirmed BTS declined on July 29; JYP confirmed Stray Kids did not submit; Hybe said it was not a company-wide boycott; the Academy kept the category on Oct. 1-2.
• What to watch Nominees are due Nov. 16, 2026; the ceremony is Feb. 7, 2027 at Crypto.com Arena.

Key facts

Submissions to Best Asian Pop Music Performance	116, per CEO Harvey Mason Jr. (Billboard), versus 519 for Best Latin Song (Korea Herald)
Category announced	June 16, 2026, one of five new categories for the 69th Grammys
BTS statement	July 29, 2026, all seven members on Instagram
Entry deadline	Aug. 21, 2026 (online entry opened July 7)
Nominees announced	Nov. 16, 2026
Ceremony	Feb. 7, 2027, Crypto.com Arena, on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu

116 entries, none from the Big 4: what happened and when

The Recording Academy announced Best Asian Pop Music Performance on June 16, 2026. Its definition covers pop 'originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop'. The song must also show 'meaningful use of one or more Asian languages'. It was one of five new categories for the 69th Grammys, which the Academy's own FAQ says now number 100 across 11 genre fields and one general field.

Six weeks later, on July 29, all seven BTS members posted on Instagram that they would not submit to the Grammys this year. CNN reported the statement. It read: 'I hope that music can be heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.' Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said the same day he was 'saddened'. He said more categories mean more artists are recognised 'by our 15,000 Grammy voters', and that the aim was never to divide.

The entry window closed Aug. 21. On Oct. 1-2, after what Mason called 'listening sessions' and dialogue with Asian music leaders, the Academy said the category would go ahead. On Oct. 15, prediction site The Grammy Guru reported that no artist from Hybe, SM, JYP or YG had entered it. The entrant names below come from SBS and Electric Bloom; the no-Big-4 claim comes from The Grammy Guru via the Korea Times. The Academy has confirmed none of them.

The headline number is 116. Billboard attributes it to Mason. For scale, the Korea Herald reports that Best Latin Song, also new this year, drew 519.

What does 'meaningful use of an Asian language' actually mean?

This is where the mechanism matters. The Academy's June 16 release defines Best Latin Song as 'predominantly in the Spanish language (at least 51 percent of the lyrics)'. The Asian pop definition in the same release carries no percentage. It says only 'meaningful use'.

That gap does two things. It leaves judgment to the screening process rather than a lyric count, and it leaves artists who sing mostly in English with a question the rulebook does not answer on its face. SBS reported that Katseye, Hybe's joint-venture group with Geffen, entered general-field and pop categories rather than Asian pop. SBS frames that as a language issue, but that is the outlet's inference. The Academy has not published a ruling on any specific act.

Put plainly: the Academy set a hard floor for Spanish and a soft one for Asian languages. Its practical effect is that a label with a mostly English release has to judge for itself whether the song qualifies, while the bigger pop fields are open regardless.

Why would a label skip a category built for its artists?

Only one party has given a reason on record, and that is BTS, who objected to the premise of dividing music by region or language. JYP Entertainment confirmed that Stray Kids did not submit, and offered no explanation. Hybe told the Korea Times that BTS's decision was 'not a company wide boycott' and that its other labels could enter independently. SM and YG have said nothing about the category that we could find.

So the word 'boycott' fits BTS and nobody else. For the rest, 'did not submit' is the honest phrase. What the submission records do show is a pattern of choice. Enhypen, a Hybe act under Belift Lab, entered 'Bloody Paradise' in Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, according to SBS. The track leads the group's eighth mini album 'THE SIN : BLISS', released Aug. 21, the final day of the entry window.

Katseye, per a Forbes submissions roundup as summarised in search results, entered 'Animal' in Pop Duo/Group, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Dance Pop Recording and the general field. Blackpink members' solo and collaboration tracks, including Jisoo's 'Eyes Closed', Lisa's 'Goals' and Jennie's 'Dracula' and 'Less than a Lover', sit in other pop categories, SBS reports.

On the public record, the trade-off looks like this. A label with a song for the main pop fields is weighing the busiest rooms of a 100-category show against a new room with 116 entries. The old rooms offer the prize the biggest Korean acts have been competing for. An act that enters only the Asian pop category risks being read, at home, as accepting a label it may not want. That is a reading of the entry pattern, not anything a label has said.

That pressure lands on acts from smaller companies, since no Big 4 name is on the reported list. Korean fan communities have already criticised the K-pop acts that did enter, the Korea Times reports, with some asking online whether anyone wants to win what they call a 'racist award'.

The Stray Kids case shows how odd the picture is. Their Aug. 7 album 'This & That' was their ninth Billboard 200 No. 1, and its title track reached No. 38 on the Hot 100, per Sports Kyunghyang. Billboard had named them a leading contender for the category. All eight members joined the Recording Academy as voting members this year. They filed nothing before Aug. 21. They can vote on the award. They simply chose not to stand for it.

Who did enter, and who is affected?

According to SBS, four K-pop acts entered: Ive and KiiiKiii, both Starship Entertainment groups under Kakao Entertainment; Fifty Fifty, under Attrakt; and the veteran ballad singer Park Hyo-shin. None is a Big 4 company, none has issued a statement, and which songs they entered has not been reported. They are smaller-company acts exercising an option the Academy created. That they are now fielding criticism from Korean fans, per the Korea Times, says more about the mood around the category than about them.

The weight of reported entries sits in Japan. SBS lists Utada Hikaru, King Gnu, Hitsujibungaku, Kenshi Yonezu and Yoasobi. Electric Bloom Webzine counted 26 public campaigns and reported entries, 11 of them Japanese, including Yonezu's 'IRIS OUT', Yoasobi's 'Orion', AKB48's 'Suki-ish', Babymetal, Yoshiki and BE:FIRST. From the Philippines, SB19 entered 'VISA' and BINI entered 'Unang Kilig', both confirmed by the groups to Billboard. SB19 also put 'LAWLESS' in Pop Duo/Group, and BINI entered Best New Artist. 'We see it as a door opening, not a box closing,' one of the two groups told Billboard.

The affected parties, then, are not only Korean. If the category becomes a J-pop and Filipino-pop contest by default, that is a result in itself for acts that rarely appear on Grammy ballots. Korean critic Lim Hee-yun told the Korea Herald that when one of the most internationally recognised Asian acts declines to compete because it disagrees with the premise, 'that becomes part of the context surrounding the award.' The winner on Feb. 7 will take home a trophy with that context attached.

Market	Reported entrants	Reported by
Korea	Ive, KiiiKiii, Fifty Fifty, Park Hyo-shin	SBS
Japan	Utada Hikaru, King Gnu, Hitsujibungaku, Kenshi Yonezu, Yoasobi	SBS
Japan	AKB48 'Suki-ish', Babymetal, Yoshiki, BE:FIRST	Electric Bloom Webzine
Philippines	SB19 'VISA', BINI 'Unang Kilig'	Billboard (confirmed by the groups)
Korea (Big 4)	None reported	The Grammy Guru via Korea Times

What will the Nov. 16 nominee list reveal?

First-round voting ran Oct. 12-22 and is now closed. The Academy's published calendar puts the nominee announcement on Nov. 16, 2026, final voting Dec. 10 to Jan. 7, and the ceremony Feb. 7, 2027 at Crypto.com Arena, simulcast on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu. The AP notes this is the first year of a 10-year ABC deal after CBS, which had carried the show since 1973.

The list will answer two open questions. Does any nominee test the "meaningful use" line, and how far does the field skew Japanese, given 11 of 26 reported campaigns by Electric Bloom's count? It will also show whether Enhypen's "Bloody Paradise", Katseye's "Animal" or any Blackpink solo earns a nomination in the pop field or the General Field, which is the bet those labels made instead.

We are not going to guess at nominees. Mason's Oct. 2 statement is worth quoting in full on this point, because it concedes the division: 'We understand this conclusion will not satisfy everyone, and that never feels good. But at the same time, we are confident it's the right conclusion for the music community overall.' He also said some leaders did not support continuation, others lacked 'accurate information', and 'by far, the loudest feedback' came from supporters.

What is not confirmed

The songs Ive, KiiiKiii, Fifty Fifty and Park Hyo-shin entered are unknown. Whether any SM or YG act submitted in any other category is unconfirmed; only Blackpink members' solo entries are reported.

Also open: whether 116 is a pre- or post-screening count, and whether every entry passed the language test. Mason gave the figure without that detail. And the reasons for SM, JYP and YG not submitting are, on the record, nonexistent. Nobody has said why. Until someone does, the only stated objection in this story belongs to BTS.

• Full entrant list: not published by the Recording Academy
• Songs entered by the four Korean acts: not reported
• Reasons from SM, JYP and YG: none given on record
• 116 figure: Mason's number, basis not specified

FAQ

Sources

• Recording Academy – 2027 new categories & rule updates
• Recording Academy – nominations/show date release
• Recording Academy – Awards FAQ
• CNN via KRDO – BTS statement
• Variety (AU) – Mason statement, category will go forward
• Billboard – SB19/BINI interview, 116 figure
• The Korea Herald – Major K-pop agencies skip category
• SBS News English – low K-pop submissions, J-pop flood

Figures change. Check the primary sources above.