Group BTS has won the grand prize equivalent Song of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards (MTV VMAs) in the United States. The winning song is "SWIM", the title track of their fifth full-length album "ARIRANG", which was released on March 20.
At the 2026 MTV VMAs held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles on September 27 (local time), BTS took home both Song of the Year and Best K-Pop with "SWIM". As a group, they also claimed Best Group, earning a total of three awards.
Seven tracks were nominated for Song of the Year, including "SWIM", Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas", HUNTR/X's "Golden", Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter's "Bring Your Love", Olivia Dean's "Man I Need", PinkPantheress' "Stateside + Zara Larsson", and RAYE's "Where Is My Husband!". In the Best K-Pop category, they competed against BLACKPINK's "Jump", CORTIS' "Red Red", KATSEYE's "Pinky Up", LE SSERAFIM's "Spaghetti (feat. j-hope)", and LISA's "Dream".
BTS previously became the first Korean act to be nominated for Song of the Year at the MTV VMAs in 2021 with "Dynamite", but did not win. Last year, BLACKPINK's ROSÉ became the first K-pop artist to win the category through her collaboration with Bruno Mars on "APT.", and with BTS following up this year, K-pop has secured the honor for two consecutive years.
Best Group is a category that BTS previously won for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022, holding the record for the most wins in the category's history. With this latest win, they lifted the trophy for the fifth time overall.
After completing their mandatory military service, all seven members of BTS released their fifth full-length album "ARIRANG" on March 20 and are currently on their world tour, "BTS WORLD TOUR 'ARIRANG'". Beginning in Goyang, the tour is scheduled to continue through next year across Tokyo, North America, Europe, South America, and Asia.
(SBS Entertainment News | Kang Kyung-youn)