K-Pop Group BTS Sends Internet Into A Frenzy After Billboard Music Awards Win

Get ready, America. After this weekend’s Billboard Music Awards, K-Pop is coming to get you, and it has nothing to do with Psy! Sure, “Gangnam Style” might have been all the rage way back when, but a new Korean sensation is making its way overseas to capture hearts and leave a mark on music lovers everywhere.

Yes, that’s right. BTS has just made history in the U.S. with their recent outing at the Billboard Music Awards, and the group has got the west feeling shook. The boy band is the first group in its genre to be invited and nominated for a Billboard Music Award. And, last night, the K-Pop act took their achievements one step further when they took home the award for Top Social Artist by beating out stars like Justin Beiber, Ariana Grande, and Shawn Mendes.

If you are not familiar with BTS, then you have plenty of stories and tracks to catch up on. Having debuted back in 2013, the boy band hit the Korean idol scene with the backing of its relatively unknown company BigHit Entertainment. The band debuted with the track “No More Dream” from their first single album “2 Cool 4 Skool.” BTS continued to pen socially conscious music with grass-root hip hop influences before they found mainstream success abroad with the track “I Need You.”

Embarking on a new album concept, BTS released a series of three albums which explored themes of adolescence. Fans were quick to share the band’s viral music and sharply choreographed MVs as singles like “Dope” and “Run” brought them more success in Korea. With their popularity growing in Asia, it was BTS’ most recent album release that saw them break records with Billboard.

When “Wings” finally got released, BTS shattered expectations when the full-length album charted at No. 26 on the Billboard 200. The album marked the best week ever on Billboard for a a K-Pop album, and BTS also became the first group to log three hits on the Billboard 200 with “Wings” rounding up the pack.

BTS is gradually becoming an influential player in the worldwide music scene, but it is the group’s fans which make them all the more formidable. For K-Pop outsiders, they can only compare the type of fervor surrounding the boys to that which follows One Direction and Justin Beiber. With millions of fans supporting them, BTS has become a group whose genre no longer binds them to Korea as they explore their newfound world of international stardom.

And, after BTS won big at the Billboard Music Awards last night, the band’s legion of fans were quick to celebrate the boys. You can check out some of the night’s most touching and meme-tastic responses below:

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