NewJeans on Nov. 19 was named Top Global K-Pop Artist at this year’s Billboard Music Awards held online at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. (Billboard’s official website)
By Yoon Seungjin
Video = Billboard Music Awards’ official YouTube channel
Four K-pop acts have won honors at this year’s Billboard Music Awards, one of the top three prizes in the U.S. music market.
BTS member Jungkook, Stray Kids, BLACKPINK and NewJeans were honored on Nov. 19 at the awards ceremony held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
The event was held online and four new K-pop-specific categories attracted the attention of global fans: Top Global K-Pop Song, Top K-Pop Album, Top K-Pop Touring Artist and Top Global K-Pop Artist.
Before K-pop categories debuted last year at the awards, the only two K-pop acts to win such honors were PSY, who grabbed Top Streaming Song Video in 2013, and BTS, who won Top Social Artist, Top Duo/Group, Top Song Sales Artist and Top Selling Song from 2017 to last year.
This year, Jungkook’s debut solo track “Seven,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, was named Top Global K-Pop Song.
Stray Kids won Top K-Pop Album for their third full-length album “★★★★★” (5-STAR) released in June, becoming the second K-pop boy band to win a Billboard award after BTS.
BLACKPINK was named Top K-Pop Touring Artist. The quartet went on its 34-city “Born Pink” world tour from October last year to September this year, attracting 1.8 million spectators, the largest by a K-pop girl group.
NewJeans won Top Global K-Pop Artist to become the fastest K-pop artist in history to win a Billboard award, specifically a year and four months after its debut.
Stray Kids and NewJeans took the stage to hold celebratory performances at the event, with the latter being the first K-pop girl group to perform at the awards.
scf2979@korea.kr
