"Rigged as always": Netizens disappointed by zero K-pop nominations at the 2025 Grammy Awards, including BTS

On Friday, November 8, the nominations for the 2025 Grammy Awards were announced. Several K-pop fans and ARMYs (BTS fans) were left disappointed due to zero K-pop nominations at the upcoming annual award show.

Given that Grammy Awards are considered to be one of the most prestigious award shows in the music industry, fans were angry at the award show's lack of recognition towards the globally influential and growing K-pop industry. Additionally, fans were also upset about the absence of nominations for BTS.

The global K-pop boy group, BTS, has been nominated for the Grammy Awards five times since 2020. Moreover, they are the first and the only K-pop group to be seated as a Grammy-nominated artist. Therefore, seeing the BTS members not make any nominations at the 2025 Grammy Awards disappointed many ARMYs.

The seven-member group didn't roll out any group album due to their military enlistement, but the members individually rolled out solo albums. These albums also made impressive achievements in the music industry by topping charts, breaking sales records, etc.

Therefore, many fans were angered by the lack of recognition for the K-pop industry and the BTS' members' success by the Recording Academy. An X user expressed their disappointment by accusing the awards for being "rigged" and wrote, "The Grammys are rigged as always".

"All they do is use k-pop artists to boost their views but never give anything to them," added another fan

"No grammy can ever justify taekook’s discography as kpop-soloists who are thriving, breaking new records and making history every single day with their debut albums already," commented a BTS fan.

More fans and netizens expressed their disappointment and frustration with the award show's nominee list.

"The fact that they didn't nominate the BTS members is the biggest proof. I'm not surprised though, they always do the same thing," stated an X user.

"They rarely recognize the art of kpop and it's artists, it's just so sad to see," wrote a netizen.

"Are we surprised honestly ? they dont really f*ck with kpop. They use em for views, look how they did bts. We ALL know bts deserved that & was failed," remarked another X user.

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All you need to know about the upcoming annual award show, the 2025 Grammy Awards

The 2025 Grammy Awards, otherwise referred to as the 67th Annual Grammy Awards is an award ceremony that recognizes and honors the best recordings, compositions, and artists from around the world. This year, it focuses on these releases dated between September 16, 2023, and August 30, 2024.

The nominees, announced on November 8, were chosen by the Recording Academy. The 2025 Grammy Awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on February 2, 2025, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, California, USA. Some of the nominees are Beyoncé, Chappel Roan Sabrian Carpenter, Charli XCX, Billie Eillsh, Ariana Grande, Bruno Mars, etc.

On the other hand, the recent nominations revelead that BTS continues to stand as the first and the only K-pop act to be nominated at the Grammy Awards. Here's a list of all the nominations the supergroup received at the Grammys:

• 2021 - Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Dynamite
• 2022 - Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: Butter
• 2023 - Best Pop Duo/Group Performance: My Universe feat. Coldplay
• 2023 - Best Music Video: Yet to Come (The Most Beautiful Moment)
• 2023 - Album of the Year (as a featured artists): Music of The Spheres by Coldplay

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While K-pop fans have been disappointed with the zero nominations for the K-pop artists, many are still appreciating the industry's success regardless of the lack of recognition from the 2025 Grammy Awards.