Why MTV VMAs Keeps Getting More K-Pop: Inside the 2026 Nominations

K-POP's reach at the MTV Video Music Awards is no longer limited to a single genre category. This year, Korean acts earned nominations across both major and technical fields alike, in what industry watchers describe as a direct result of the growing pool of bankable artists, from full groups to solo members with global followings of their own.

MTV announced 33 additional nominees on Sept. 18 local time across four fan-voted VMA categories, including Best Group, Best Long Form Video, Best Album, and Song of Summer. The announcement brought the total number of nominee slots for this year's ceremony to 154.

The headline story is on the main slate, where BTS and CORTIS landed together. BTS scored a Song of the Year nomination, while rookie act CORTIS was named in the Best New Artist category. It is only the second time two different K-POP acts have shared main-category nominations at the VMAs, after BTS and SEVENTEEN did so in 2022.

The bigger shift is how far K-POP has spread across the full ballot. Korean acts took 19 of this year's 154 nominee slots, or about 12.3%. That is the highest share in five years. The year-by-year climb: 8.9% in 2022, 10.8% in 2023, 8.8% in 2024, 10.3% in 2025, and 12.3% this year.

Strip out the genre and regional categories, and the growth looks even sharper. Excluding fields like Best Latin, Best Country, and Best K-POP, K-POP's share of the open competitive categories jumped from 5.0% in 2022 to 11.1% this year. That is more than 2.2 times higher than it was five years ago.

A big part of the change is that individual members now carry nearly as much weight as their groups. In earlier years, a K-POP nomination almost always meant a team release. Now solo work from members is appearing on the ballot in its own right.

Lisa and Jisoo of BLACKPINK are the clearest examples. This year, Lisa was nominated for Best K-POP and, on the main slate, Best Pop. Jisoo landed a Best Visual Effects nomination for the music video for "Eyes Closed," her collaboration with pop star ZAYN. Lisa's deal with U.S. major label RCA has plugged her into the American mainstream music industry, which appears to have helped her visibility here. Jisoo, for her part, reached a wider U.S. audience by teaming with a marquee Western pop name.

The reason K-POP tends to fare better at the VMAs than at some other major U.S. awards comes down to the show itself. Launched in 1984, the MTV VMAs sit alongside the Grammy Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, and the American Music Awards as one of America's top pop music ceremonies. True to the name, the VMAs recognize choreography, direction, cinematography, editing, and visual effects, not just streaming and sales.

That is a different lens from awards that lean on traditional musicianship or chart position. K-POP's long-standing investment in performance and video production fits naturally with the VMAs' technical categories.