K-Pop continued to show its strong presence at the '2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards', receiving 5 categories dedicated specifically to the genre as well as scoring nods in several global cross-genre categories.
Notably, the soundtrack album to the hit Netflix animation film 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' claimed the most nominations among music categorized as K-Pop this year. The film's standout track "Golden" was nominated for 'Pop Song of the Year', while its performers (HUNTR/X, Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami) were nominated for 'Duo/Group of the Year'. "Golden" also received a nomination for the socially voted category 'Best Lyrics', and the full 'K-Pop Demon Hunters' soundtrack jumped into the heated competition for 'Favorite Soundtrack' against box office hits like 'Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere' and 'Wicked: For Good'.
Next, "APT." by Rosé and Bruno Mars once again impressed with another nomination for 'Best Collaboration'. Meanwhile, other noteworthy K-Pop affiliates like Jackson Wang and JO1 were nominated for 'World Artist of the Year'.
K-Pop also demonstrated its formidable presence in several socially voted categories, with "GO!" by CORTIS, "Gnarly" by KATSEYE, "JUMP" by BLACKPINK, "like JENNIE" by Jennie, "Mona Lisa" by J-Hope, and "Spaghetti" by LE SSERAFIM feat. J-Hope being nominated for 'Favorite TikTok Dance'. Of course, the members of BLACKPINK shined not only as a group, but also individually across their decorated solo projects as well - Jennie's 'Ruby' and Lisa's 'Alter Ego' received nominations for 'Favorite Debut Album', while Lisa''s "Born Again" feat. Doja Cat & RAYE, Jennie's "like JENNIE", and Rosé's "Toxic til the End" were nominated for 'Best Music Video' along with "JUMP". The girls also landed a nomination for 'Favorite Tour Style', a nomination shared with KATSEYE.
Finally, below are the exciting nominations for this year's K-Pop exclusive categories:
K-pop Artist of the Year
- Jennie
- j-Hope
- Jin
- Lisa
- Rosé
K-pop Group of the Year
- ATEEZ
- BLACKPINK
- ENHYPEN
- Stray Kids
- TWICE
K-pop Song of the Year
- “APT.” – Rosé & Bruno Mars
- “Golden” – HUNTR/X, EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI
- “JUMP” – BLACKPINK
- “Killin' It Girl” – J-Hope feat. GloRilla
- “like JENNIE” – Jennie
Best New Artist (K-pop):
- 82Major
- ALLDAY PROJECT
- CORTIS
- Hearts2Hearts
- MEOVV
Favorite K-pop Collab
- “Blink” – Corbyn Besson & Tzuyu of TWICE
- “Born Again” – Lisa feat. Doja Cat & RAYE
- “Buck” – Jackson Wang feat. Diljit Dosanjh
- “Confessions” – Flo Rida, Heeseung & Jake of ENHYPEN, Paul Russell
- “Dirty Work” – aespa feat. Flo Milli
- “ExtraL” – Jennie, Doechii
- “Eyes Closed” – Jisoo X Zayn
- “Illegal + Seventeen” – PinkPantheress, Seventeen
- “On My Mind” – Alex Warren & Rosé
- “Sweet Dreams (feat. Miguel)” – J-Hope, Miguel
- “Too Bad” – G-Dragon feat. Anderson .Paak
- “We Pray (TWICE Version)” – Coldplay, TWICE
Meanwhile, the '2026 iHeart Radio Music Awards' will take place live from Dolby Theater in Los Angeles, California, on March 26 at 8 PM ET. The award show will be aired on FOX as well as the iHeartRadio app.
SEE ALSO: “Kill This Love” becomes BLACKPINK’s 2nd song to hit 1 billion streams on Spotify
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