BTS Aims For A Back-To-Back Top Social Artist Title At 2018 Billboard Music Awards

by Jessica Rapir / Apr 18, 2018 06:26 AM EDT

BTS aiming for a back-to-back win of the Top Social Artist title at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. Photo by: BTS / Facebook

BTS could score a back-to-back win at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. The Korean male band is once again nominated for the Top Social Artist award in this year's BMAs. The group won the same title last year.

Billboard went live on Facebook on Tuesday and unveiled the nominees this year in all the categories. BTS is up against almost the same artists for Top Social Artist, except for Selena Gomez. The "Hands To Myself" songstress is not nominated this year. Demi Lovato was added to the list.

The other nominees for the Top Social Artist category this year are Lovato, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, and Shawn Mendes. Bieber consistently won the award since the category was created in 2011. His winning streak was only broken by BTS in 2017. The "Where Are U Now" singer has a total of six wins and eight nods - including this year's nomination.

The Billboard award was BTS' first major recognition from the music industry in the U.S. This also makes them the first ever K-pop group to receive an award from the BMAs. Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook also got a spot on TIME's list of the 2017 Most Influential People on The Internet after they won BMAs' Top Social Artist award.

2018 Billboard Music Awards Nominees

Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran, and Bruno Mars lead this year's BMAs list of nominees. The three got 15 nods apiece. They are up against each other in the Top Artist award along with Drake and Taylor Swift. Drizzy received a total of nine nominations, while Swift got five for her album Reputation. Bieber is tied with Cardi B with eight nominations, while "Despacito" singers Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee have seven apiece.

Nominees for the BMAs are chosen based on a number of factors. It includes the artist(s) key interactions with their fans, album and digital song sales, radio airplay, streaming, touring, and social engagement. The data was gathered over a 12-month period. This year's eligibility period was from April 8, 2017, through March 31, 2018.

The 2018 Billboard Music Awards is scheduled to go live at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on May 20 on NBC. The three-hour event will also commemorate the 60^th year of Billboard charts. Meanwhile, BTS is also slated to release their new album, Love Yourself: Tear, two days before the awards night.

BTS Wins 2018 TIME 100

Another feat for BTS is the 2018 TIME 100 Reader Poll. The K-pop group won the poll with 15 percent of the votes. South Korean President Moon Jae In closely followed in second, while former U.S. President Barack Obama is at third place.

According to Time Magazine, other popular artists such as Rihanna, Beyoncé, Shawn Mendes, and Bruno Mars got two percent each. The official TIME 100 list will be unveiled on April 19. The list is methodically selected by the publication's editors, but the online reader poll also opens up voting to the general public.