AMAs list K‑Pop nominees
The 2026 American Music Awards nominations included K‑Pop heavyweights: BTS earned nods for Artist of the Year and Song of the Summer with “SWIM,” and the Best Male K‑Pop Artist category features ATEEZ, ENHYPEN, Stray Kids and TXT in the shortlist ( ). Social posts and polls about likely winners have generated thousands of likes, highlighting online fan engagement ahead of the awards ( ).
The 2026 American Music Awards nominations put K-pop acts back in the center of a fan-voted show, with BTS landing two of the night’s biggest nods. (theamas.com) BTS was nominated for Artist of the Year alongside Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, Justin Bieber, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Morgan Wallen, Sabrina Carpenter and Taylor Swift. “SWIM” also made the 10-song shortlist for Song of the Summer. (theamas.com) The K-pop field runs deeper than BTS. The American Music Awards created separate male and female K-pop categories for 2026, and the Best Male K-Pop Artist lineup includes ATEEZ, ENHYPEN, Stray Kids and Tomorrow X Together, also known as TXT. (theamas.com; theamas.com) Those nominations matter at this show because the American Music Awards describes itself as the world’s largest fan-voted awards program. Voting opened on April 14, the same day nominations were announced. (theamas.com; theamas.com) Fans can vote in two ways: through public Instagram comments using category-specific hashtags, or on the AMAs voting site. The rules allow 30 votes per user, per category, per day, per method, with “Turbo Voting” days on April 21, April 28 and May 5 that double those totals. (theamas.com) The schedule gives K-pop fandoms several weeks to organize. Voting in most categories closes on May 8 at 11:59 a.m. Pacific time, while Social Song of the Year and Tour of the Year stay open until May 25 at 5:30 p.m. Pacific time. (theamas.com) This year’s ceremony is set for Memorial Day, Monday, May 25, 2026, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with a live broadcast on CBS and a stream on Paramount+. Queen Latifah is hosting the 52nd edition of the show. (theamas.com; thehollywoodreporter.com) The broader nomination list shows how competitive those K-pop nods are inside the full awards slate. Taylor Swift leads all artists with eight nominations, while Morgan Wallen, Olivia Dean, Sabrina Carpenter and Sombr follow with seven each. (thehollywoodreporter.com; deadline.com) For now, the headline is simple: K-pop acts are not confined to genre lanes at the 2026 American Music Awards, and fans now have until May to try to turn nominations into wins. (theamas.com; theamas.com)
