BTS Wins VMAs' Song of the Year With 'Swim,' Loses Best K-Pop to Lisa

BTS's “Swim” won Song of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards on 27 September, the show's top overall prize. It is only the second time a K-pop song has been nominated in that category. The first was “Dynamite” in 2021, which lost to Olivia Rodrigo's “Drivers License.” This time, five years later, BTS won.

The same night handed the K-pop-specific prize to someone else. Best K-Pop went to Lisa's “Dream,” featuring Kentaro Sakaguchi, beating “Swim” along with entries from Blackpink, Cortis, Katseye and Le Sserafim (with BTS's own j-hope featured on that last one). BTS won the award built for every genre and lost the one built for theirs.

A comeback with the numbers to match

“Swim” is the lead single from “Arirang,” released 20 March 2026 as BTS's first album together since all seven members finished South Korea's mandatory military service in 2025. The single debuted at No. 1 on the Hot 100. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and stayed there three weeks straight, opening with 641,000 units, the biggest first week by units for any group since Billboard began counting that way in December 2014.

“Swim” carries nine credited writers, including RM himself alongside OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder and BTS's longtime in-house producer Pdogg, and was produced by Tyler Spry and Leclair.

The same song, a lawsuit and a boycott

“Swim” has spent this year in more than one kind of spotlight. On 8 July, three American songwriters sued HYBE, its US arm and Big Hit Music in a US court, claiming the song reproduces an unreleased demo of the same name they wrote in early 2025. They are seeking damages and a share of the song's profits, or, failing that, to be added as co-writers. BTS's seven members are not named as defendants; HYBE and Big Hit Music have denied the claims.

Three weeks later, on 29 July, BTS said they would not submit any music for the Recording Academy's new Best Asian Pop Music category at the 2027 Grammys, arguing that music should be heard rather than sorted by region or language. “Arirang” is largely English-language, which would have made it a doubtful fit for a category built around Asian-language lyrics anyway. On 19 August, Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said he had spent two weeks talking with people in the industry about it; whether that leads to a change has not been confirmed.

A tour that keeps setting records

All of this is happening mid-tour. The Arirang World Tour is booked for 88 shows across 34 cities and 23 countries into March 2027. Two nights at London's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in July drew about 130,000 fans, the highest per-show attendance the stadium has recorded since it opened in 2019. The tour's North American leg closed on 6 September at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles; its next stop, in October, is Bogotá, Colombia, a first-ever visit for the group.

Between a No. 1 on the world's best-known music-video award show and a lawsuit and a boycott running alongside it, “Swim” has had a busier year than most singles ever do. mymy has more on BTS and ‘Swim’ in its wiki, kept current as each of those stories moves.