With BTS formally withdrawing from consideration at the 69th Grammy Awards, the inaugural Best Asian Pop Music Performance category will be handed to another act when nominees are announced in mid-November, opening the door for a group other than the genre’s biggest global name to claim the award’s first-ever winner status.

BTS’s seven members announced their decision on July 29, saying through Korean-language Instagram statements that they hoped their music could be “heard and loved for what it is, rather than being divided by region or language.” The withdrawal followed the Recording Academy’s June 16 announcement of five new Grammy categories, including Best Asian Pop Music Performance, which the Academy’s rulebook describes as recognizing “artistic excellence in Asian pop music performances originating from or widely recognized within Asian markets, including but not limited to K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, with meaningful use of one or more Asian languages.”

A Category BTS Could Have Dominated

Given BTS’s commercial dominance, industry watchers have widely noted that the group would have entered as the overwhelming favorite had it chosen to compete. The band’s new album, “Arirang,” released after all seven members completed South Korea’s mandatory military service, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and topped Apple Music charts in 115 countries and regions upon its March release. With BTS out of the running, that clearer path to becoming the category’s first-ever winner now opens up for a smaller group of contenders.

The Leading Contenders

Industry observers have pointed to several acts as the strongest candidates to claim the inaugural award. Among K-pop groups, ATEEZ, Stray Kids, Hearts2Hearts and the newer boy group CORTIS have been named repeatedly as likely nominees, given their commercial performance and continued willingness to submit music for Grammy consideration despite the surrounding controversy. Filipino girl group BINI, who made their live festival debut at Coachella earlier this year, has also been cited as a strong contender, reflecting the category’s stated intent to recognize Asian pop acts beyond Korea’s borders specifically.

Beyond K-pop, Japanese singer-songwriter Kenshi Yonezu has been named among the category’s strongest potential nominees, illustrating a notable tension within the award itself. As The Conversation noted in an analysis of the controversy, Yonezu has little connection to the idol-group production model most closely associated with K-pop, meaning the category’s eventual winner could highlight just how broad and varied the term “Asian pop” actually covers, spanning everything from tightly choreographed idol groups to solo singer-songwriters working in an entirely different tradition. The same analysis noted that Chinese pop, or C-pop, similarly spans multiple distinct regional and linguistic subgenres that the category’s current wording does little to differentiate.

Why So Few Other Artists Have Joined the Boycott

Despite widespread public commentary supporting BTS’s decision, remarkably few other prominent K-pop acts have followed the group in withdrawing their own music from Grammy consideration. Industry analysts attribute that reluctance to BTS’s unique commercial standing within the music business. Unlike newer or less established acts, BTS can afford to forgo Grammy recognition entirely without meaningfully affecting its global commercial position, a luxury not every group competing for the new category currently shares. HYBE, BTS’s label, has explicitly clarified that the withdrawal does not represent a company-wide boycott, with a source telling reporters that other artists under the label will proceed with Grammy submissions if they choose to do so.

Limited Public Solidarity, Mostly Symbolic

Public support for BTS’s stance has come primarily from figures adjacent to the K-pop industry rather than from direct competitors likely to benefit from the group’s absence. Tablo, frontman of the Korean hip-hop group Epik High, shared a story from BTS leader RM’s Instagram with the message “ARIRANG > Grammys.” Bang Yong-guk of the K-pop group B.A.P and Korean American actor Daniel Dae Kim similarly shared news coverage of the boycott to their own followers. None of these gestures, however, have translated into other major K-pop acts actually pulling their own music from the new category.

A Familiar Pattern Across Award Shows

The controversy surrounding BTS’s absence echoes a broader pattern that has played out across other major U.S. award shows in recent years. MTV’s Video Music Awards introduced a Best K-pop category in 2019, the American Music Awards added a Favorite K-pop Artist award in 2022, and the Billboard Music Awards introduced four K-pop-related categories in 2023. Some commentators have drawn a comparison to the Grammys’ own history, pointing specifically to the ceremony’s 1989 decision to introduce a Hard Rock/Metal category, an addition remembered for one of the Grammys’ more notable missteps when voters awarded the inaugural prize to the progressive rock band Jethro Tull rather than a genre-defining act like Metallica or AC/DC, illustrating how a new category doesn’t always deliver the recognition its creators intended.

The Recording Academy’s Position

Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. has defended the new category directly, saying it “was created to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia,” and adding that “more categories mean more artists’ work is recognized.” Mason has separately stressed that submitting music in a genre category does not exclude an artist from also being considered in the Grammys’ general field, which includes Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

With eligibility for Best Asian Pop Music Performance running through Aug. 28 and nominees expected to be announced in mid-November, ahead of the ceremony’s Feb. 7, 2027 broadcast, the coming weeks will determine which acts formally enter the running for the category’s first-ever trophy. Whichever group or artist ultimately wins, industry observers say the moment is likely to carry outsized symbolic weight, marking not just the start of a new Grammy category but also a test case for whether recognition through a genre-specific award can coexist with, rather than substitute for, broader inclusion in the ceremony’s most prestigious general-field honors that BTS itself has spent years pursuing without success.

A total solar eclipse will sweep across the Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday, Aug. 12, and for the vast majority of the world’s population who won’t be standing inside the narrow path of totality, a livestream will be the only way to watch the moon fully block the sun. Here’s a country-by-country breakdown of where and how to watch online.

NASA’s Flagship Broadcast

NASA will anchor the day’s coverage with a live broadcast beginning at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time, available on NASA+, the agency’s website, and its social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, X, Twitch and YouTube, as well as through Amazon Prime. The broadcast will feature telescope views from multiple points along the eclipse path, footage from a WB-57 high-altitude research aircraft chasing the moon’s shadow across the sky, and expert commentary from solar physicists throughout the event. NASA’s 2024 eclipse broadcast drew more than 15 million concurrent viewers, and the agency’s 2026 stream is expected to match or exceed that figure. Viewers can also access NASA’s stream through its dedicated app, available on iOS, Android, Roku, Apple TV and Fire TV devices, which supports background audio for those who want to listen to commentary while doing other tasks.

Where Totality Will Actually Be Visible

The path of totality begins over a remote, sparsely populated stretch of northern Russia before crossing the Arctic Ocean into eastern Greenland, sweeping down over Iceland, clipping the northwestern tip of Portugal, and finally crossing northern Spain and the Balearic Islands before ending over the Mediterranean Sea. Totality reaches Iceland at 1:45 p.m. Eastern time and arrives in Spain at 2:28 p.m. Eastern time, according to NASA. Only viewers physically located within that roughly 182-mile-wide band will see the sun fully disappear behind the moon; everyone else in the Northern Hemisphere positioned near the path will see only a partial eclipse.

Iceland

Iceland stands as one of the most accessible destinations along the path of totality and is expected to draw significant crowds of eclipse tourists. For those watching remotely rather than traveling, Iceland-based astronomy outlets and international broadcasters are expected to carry dedicated coverage as the shadow crosses directly over Reykjavik in the late afternoon local time, marking the first total eclipse visible from the Icelandic capital since 1433.

Spain

Spain will host the first total solar eclipse visible from mainland Europe since 1999, and as such is expected to be a major focus of international livestream coverage. NASA’s own broadcast will feature live feeds from multiple locations across Spain’s path of totality, including professional solar telescopes and wide-angle cameras designed to capture the dramatic 360-degree sunset effect created as totality occurs just before the sun sets locally in the late evening.

Greenland and Northern Russia

Coverage from Greenland and the remote stretch of northern Russia where the eclipse first makes landfall is expected to be more limited given the sparse population and logistical difficulty of broadcasting from those locations, though NASA’s broadcast is expected to include footage from the Greenland portion of the path as part of its overall coverage.

United States

The eclipse will not reach totality anywhere in the United States. Instead, parts of the northern U.S., ranging from Alaska down through the northeastern states to North Carolina, will see only a partial eclipse, with the moon taking what NASA describes as a small “bite” out of the sun. Alaska will see the strongest partial eclipse effect among U.S. locations, with visibility diminishing further south and east. American viewers hoping to see totality itself will need to watch NASA’s livestream, which begins at 1:15 p.m. Eastern time with views from Iceland and Spain.

Canada

Most of Canada will experience a partial solar eclipse, similar to the northern United States, without reaching totality at any point within the country. Canadian viewers can access the same NASA livestream available to American audiences, along with coverage from Canadian astronomy and science broadcasters expected to air alongside the international feed.

United Kingdom and Ireland

Neither the United Kingdom nor Ireland falls within the path of totality, but both will see a partial eclipse, appearing as a thin, low crescent of sunlight near the western horizon. Given the significant public interest generated by Spain hosting the first mainland European total eclipse since 1999, British and Irish broadcasters and astronomy outlets are expected to carry supplementary partial-eclipse coverage alongside international feeds of the Spanish totality.

Continental Europe

Much of continental Europe, including France, Germany, Italy and the Scandinavian countries, will see a partial eclipse, with the visible portion of the sun’s disk covered by the moon varying by location and generally increasing the closer a viewer is to the path of totality in Spain. European viewers can follow NASA’s English-language broadcast or the agency’s Spanish-language version, both of which will be accessible online, alongside expected coverage from national broadcasters across the continent given the historic nature of Spain’s eclipse.

Northwestern Africa

Parts of northwestern Africa are also positioned to see a partial eclipse as the moon’s shadow passes to the north over Spain, though as with much of mainland Europe, the sun will be setting locally while still partially eclipsed in the westernmost parts of the visible region, creating an opportunity for a striking sunset eclipse view for those watching in person or through regional broadcast coverage.

Additional Streaming Options

Beyond NASA’s flagship broadcast, astronomy website Time and Date is expected to offer its own dedicated eclipse livestream through a specialized app that automatically detects a viewer’s location and displays local eclipse timing and cloud cover forecasts specific to their city. Every major broadcaster covering the event is also expected to stream simultaneously on YouTube, meaning viewers searching “2026 total solar eclipse” on the platform on Aug. 12 should find multiple live options to choose from, castable to a television through devices like Chromecast for those who prefer to watch on a larger screen.

A Reminder on Safe Viewing

For anyone watching in person rather than online, NASA and eye-safety experts stress that certified eclipse glasses meeting the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard, or a properly fitted solar filter on any telescope, binoculars or camera, must be used throughout every partial phase of the eclipse. Only viewers standing within the narrow path of totality may safely remove eclipse glasses, and only during the brief window when the moon fully covers the sun.

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