BTS Takes Home Top Social Artist Award At Billboard Music Awards For 2nd Year In A Row

BTS has won the Top Social Artist award at the Billboard Music Awards 2018 (BBMAs)!

BTS is attending the star-studded BBMAs at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on May 20 (local time). This is the second year in a row that the group has been invited to the annual ceremony after receiving a nomination for the Top Social Artist award, which they won last year.

During the show, it was announced that BTS is the winner of this year’s Top Social Artist award! The award is determined by votes from fans both on Billboard’s website and on Twitter.

Their fellow nominees were Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, and Shawn Mendes. Before BTS was named as Top Social Artist in 2017, Justin Bieber had been the winner of the award every year since its introduction in 2011.

When accepting the award, leader RM said, “Thank you so much to Billboard Music Awards for this precious award two years in a row! This time we had a chance to think about what ‘social’ really means for us and some of our fans told us that our music really changed their lives. And now, we realize that our words truly carry weight thanks to you guys. And ARMYs out there, you guys, your words keep us going and keep us striving!”

Jimin said in Korean to their fans, “This award is really one that you all are receiving. We sincerely thank you and we love you!”

2년 연속 상을 받을 수 있도록 함께 해준 아미들에게 감사합니다💜

Thanks for this precious award two years in a row!!! ARMY, this one's for you! pic.twitter.com/z23PQgSmSG

— BTS_official (@bts_bighit) May 21, 2018

BTS is now the first K-pop artist to have won two awards from the BBMAs, and they are also still the only K-pop group to have taken home an award from the BBMAs. The only other K-pop artist that has been awarded a trophy by the ceremony is PSY, who won the Top Streaming Song award for “Gangnam Style” in 2013.

BTS’s latest award win reflects their incredible social media power, which has been increasing even more in the past year. Their huge popularity on social media networks such as Twitter shows in the response they receive to their posts, with many of their recent tweets surpassing 1 million “likes” and over 400,000 retweets.

This can also be seen on Billboard’s Social 50 chart, which ranks the most popular artists in the world on social networking sites based on a combination of weekly additions of friends/fans/followers with artist page views and weekly song plays. Since their first time reaching No. 1 on the Social 50 chart in October of 2016, BTS has been at the top of the chart for an amazing 74 weeks in total.

The hit group made a comeback on May 18 with their new album “Love Yourself: Tear,” featuring the title track “Fake Love.” The album has already achieved huge success, including reigning over iTunes Top Albums charts in many countries throughout the world, breaking records on YouTube, and entering Spotify’s Global Top 200 at the highest ranking yet for a Korean artist. “Fake Love” has also now achieved the group’s first ever “perfect all-kill” on the music charts in Korea, meaning it has secured the No. 1 spot on all major domestic charts.

Check out BTS’s performance of “Fake Love” at the BBMAs here!