BTS Wins First 'Song of the Year' at MTV VMA in the US... Madonna Takes Seven Awards

Lisa of Blackpink Becomes First Asian Solo Artist to Win "Best Pop"

BTS Party World Tour performance. Provided by Big Hit Music (HYBE)

The group BTS has claimed three awards at the MTV Video Music Awards in the United States, including the top honor, "Song of the Year." Lisa of Blackpink won a major prize with "Best Pop."

On the 27th (local time), BTS received the "Song of the Year" award for the title track "SWIM" from their fifth studio album "ARIRANG" at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. They competed against Ella Langley's "Choosin' Texas," the Netflix animation "K-Pop Demon Hunters"'s "Golden," Madonna and Sabrina Carpenter's "Bring Your Love," and Ray's "WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!" among others.

This marks the second time an Asian artist has received the "Song of the Year" award, following Blackpink's ROSE, who shared the prize last year with Bruno Mars for "APT." Last year, ROSE became the first Asian solo artist to win this award, and this year, BTS became the first Asian group to receive it. K-pop artists have won in this category for two consecutive years.

BTS also took home the "Best Group" and "Best K-Pop" awards. They added their fifth "Best Group" trophy this year, having won this award for four consecutive years from 2019 to 2022. This also sets a new record for the most wins of all time in this category. It is the first VMA trophy the group has earned since all members completed their military service and resumed group activities in March of this year.

BTS first won at the VMAs in 2019, and in 2020, they took home trophies for "Best Pop" and "Best Choreography" with "ON." In 2021, they were nominated for "Song of the Year" but did not win. This marks their first win in this category.

Lisa of Blackpink won the "Best Pop" award for her solo track "Dream," beating out other nominees such as Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. This is the second time an Asian artist has received this award, following BTS in 2020. Lisa is the first solo artist to win it. On this day, Lisa was moved to tears when she was announced as the winner. On stage, after greeting in English and Thai, she said, "The dreams I held onto late at night have brought me to this very place today."

Lisa is performing at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, USA, on the 27th (local time). Photo by AP Yonhap News

Taylor Swift is giving her remarks at the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, USA, on the 27th (local time). Photo by AP Yonhap News

Rookie group Cortis was nominated in three categories—Best New Artist, Best Group, and Best K-Pop—just about a year after their debut in August last year, but did not win any awards. The "Best New Artist" award went to British singer-songwriter Sienna Spiro.

On this day, Madonna took home the most awards, becoming a 7-time winner. She won "Artist of the Year" and "Best Collaboration" with Sabrina Carpenter for "Bring Your Love." "Confessions II" was chosen as "Best Album," and "Confessions II-The Film" received awards in "Best Dance," as well as in cinematography, choreography, and long-form video categories.

Taylor Swift took "Video of the Year" with "The Fate of Ophelia." She also received "Best Direction" for "Opalite." Additionally, she was chosen as the first winner of the newly established "Artist Director Honors" award this year.

The MTV VMAs are an American pop music awards show that began in 1984. This year, Snoop Dogg served as host. Madonna returned to the VMA stage for the first time in 23 years for the opening performance, and the rock band Nirvana received the "Video Vanguard Award."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.