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On November 25, the 2024 BBMAs, aka Billboard Music Awards, unveiled all the nominations for this year’s awards ceremony. The list of K-pop nominations featured BTS’ Jungkook and Jimin as independent artists, alongside K-pop groups like Stray Kids, ENHYPEN, SEVENTEEN, ATEEZ, ILLIT, and LE SSERAFIM. Most of these artists and groups are managed by the entertainment company HYBE.
Except for ATEEZ, who are managed by KQ Entertainment, all of the K-pop nominations are from acts signed to the HYBE label. K-pop fans and other members of the online community noticed this issue, alleging that 'HYBE Payola' was responsible for dominating all categories in the 2024 BBMAs nominations.
Payola is an informal term that refers to any covert or indirect payment made to somebody in return for a commercial favor or the performance of an illegal act.
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K-pop fans on the internet appeared divided at HYBE's dominance in the 2024 BBMAs nominations. While some accused the label of allegedly bribing Billboard, others praised HYBE's artists for their deserving contributions to music. Expressing this sentiment, one X user wrote:
“hybe payola is crazy”
Many other mixed responses were seen online. While some were dissatisfied that NewJeans and Aespa were missing from the list and accused HYBE Payola, others praised the label’s artists who performed well on Billboard charts and got nominated.
“newjeans and aespa should be nominated. but ofc its hybe payola privilege,” wrote a netizen.
“AND ALL THE NOMINATED ONLY FROM HYBE??? maybe hybe payola is true,” wrote another user on X.
“"hybe payola" well this is BILLBOARD music award ofc the nominees are gonna be the ones who actually did well on billboard charts. what is not clicking for y'all,” wrote an internet user.
Another netizen supported HYBE saying that their groups are "stronger internationally." Many also stated that HYBE "paid the way" for its girl groups ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM.
“I mean it’s obvious why a lot of hybe groups would be at billboard they are always stronger internationally (esp in america) than domestically save for a skz, twice and ateez and 2/3 of them are also nominated. Not everything is hybe payola even Jesus rested,” expressed an X user.
“The only hybe group/member who could not be a candidate is newjeans.. hybe payola is now very noticeable,” commented another netizen.
“"hybe paid the way" "payola" . yall really outside hating cause your faves never debuted inside hot100. just embarrassing,” wrote another X user.
“Hybe paid the way for ILLIT and LE SSERAFIM.,” remarked another netizen.
BTS' Jungkook earned the most nominations on the 2024 BBMAs list
Jungkook of BTS leads the list of K-pop acts with six nominations for the 2024 BBMAs. With this year's nominations, Jeon Jungkook now has seven Billboard nominations. In 2023, BTS' Jungkook received a nomination for Top Global K-pop Song for SEVEN (feat. Latto).
Alongside BTS' Jungkook, Stray Kids has received nominations in four categories for the 2024 BBMAs, but TXT garnered three nominations. Next, BTS' Jimin and ENHYPEN are both recognized in two categories.
The rest of the K-pop groups, SEVENTEEN, ILLIT, LE SSERAFIM, and ATEEZ, have been included in one category.
The 2024 BBMAs will be shown on Fox, where the event first premiered in 1990, and on Amazon's Fire TV Channels on December 12 at 8 PM ET. The presentation of the awards will be aired on Paramount+.
