K-pop secured its first-ever Grammy win with “Golden” (2025), a song seen as part of the broader K-pop ecosystem. The milestone didn't come overnight, following more than a decade of persistent attempts and gradual shifts within the music industry.

The standout anthem from Netflix’s smash hit animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” (2025) was named the Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday.


This marked the first time any song under the broader “K” banner has ever won a Grammy. “Golden” also featured K-pop producers The Black Label as part of its production team.

This year, Blackpink’s Rosé was nominated for the Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for her 2024 collaboration with Bruno Mars, “APT.,” and Katseye competed for the Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. However, neither took home a trophy this year.

Notching a Grammy win has long been viewed as a kind of holy grail and mark of recognition for Korea’s pop music industry, one that the nation has watched with keen interest for years.

K-pop's first real opportunity for a possible Grammy nod came with singer Psy’s viral hit “Gangnam Style” (2012). While the song became an online phenomenon as its music video was the first in history to surpass the 1 billion view milestone on YouTube, it was ultimately snubbed for the award.

At that time, a Grammy win felt more like an anomaly than a realistic benchmark. The tide, however, began to turn later in the decade, following BTS’s rapid popularity in the U.S. music market.

While Korean soprano Sumi Jo and sound engineer Hwang Byung-joon had previously taken home awards in opera and classical music, BTS had been the first and only K-pop act nominated for a Grammy until now.

The septet earned its first Grammy nomination with “Dynamite” (2020) in the Best Pop Duo/Group Performance category at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, followed by “Butter” (2021) in the same category a year later.

In 2022, the group earned nominations in the Best Music Video category for “Yet To Come” (2022), for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance for their Coldplay collaboration “My Universe” (2021) and for Album of the Year as a featured artist in Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres” (2021).

Each time BTS appeared on the nominee list, Korean media watched closely to see whether the megaband could finally break through the Grammy’s seemingly impenetrable wall, after winning honors at the Billboard Music Awards and the American Music Awards. The group, however, has not able to bag a win so far.

Following BTS’s unprecedented global rise, K-pop acts have continued to submit their work for Grammy consideration, with major releases such as Blackpink's “Pink Venom” (2022) fueling anticipation for a potential nod every year. But this year marked the first time such efforts resulted in multiple nominations beyond BTS.

Still, K-pop acts and songs in the conventional sense have yet to secure Grammy recognition.

“K-pop has been significantly influenced by the U.S. pop music scene, meaning that earning recognition from the Grammys with our own music carries unique significance,” said pop culture critic Kim Hern-sik.

“The Grammys are highly exclusive, and the barriers have historically been particularly high for nonwhite artists, but the atmosphere has certainly changed,” he noted. “I believe K-pop is on its way to being embraced as part of that culture.”

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]