Grammys 2027: What the New Asian Pop Category Requires, and Who Is Sitting It Out

First-round voting opened October 12 with a new category on the ballot

Grammy voters began casting first-round ballots on Monday, October 12, 2026, and for the first time the ballot includes Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The Recording Academy's voting guide, updated on October 9, says the round closes on Thursday, October 22, at 6 p.m. PT, and that it decides the nominees in all 100 Grammy categories. The rule behind the new category decides which recordings can compete in it, and eligibility turns on language and musical style rather than on who the performers are.

What the Asian pop category requires

The category covers singles or tracks, and it is vocal only. Eligible recordings are contemporary popular music that originates from or is widely recognized within Asian markets, including K-pop, J-pop and C-pop, and they must use one or more Asian languages in a meaningful way. The Academy's wording sets the boundary: an Asian language has to play a significant role within a bilingual or multilingual song, recordings performed entirely in an Asian language are eligible, and incidental use such as isolated words, adlibs or brief phrases does not qualify. A recording performed entirely in English cannot be entered here, although it stays eligible in other categories.

Two more lines answer questions that came up after the category was announced. The musical style is determinative of eligibility, not the ethnicity or nationality of the performers. Only one version of a recording is eligible in a performance category in any year, so a song entered in another performance category cannot also be entered in this one through an Asian-language version. Nominees are the artists, and the statuettes go to the artists. Both lines sit on the Academy's category page and in the rule updates that took effect for this cycle.

Why BTS and Stray Kids are not on the ballot

BTS said on July 29, 2026 that it would not submit music for the 2027 Grammys. The Korea Herald reported that all seven members posted the same message on their individual social accounts, saying they would forgo Grammy consideration in the hope that music "can be heard and embraced for what it is, beyond region or language." Recording Academy chief executive Harvey Mason jr. issued a statement the same day saying he respected the decision and that the new category was created "to celebrate the depth, diversity and extraordinary growth of pop artistry coming out of Asia." He added that recognition in a genre category and recognition in the General Field are not mutually exclusive.

Stray Kids are absent too. JYP Entertainment confirmed on October 2 that the group had not submitted any music before the August 21 entry deadline, and the agency did not give a reason or say whether the decision was connected to the category, according to a later report in the same newspaper. That report also says the Academy confirmed in the days before that the award would proceed and described the volume of submissions as "robust," and that Mason said the Academy had heard the opposition but found support among music creators substantially stronger. Consequence reported on October 6 that Drake would also stay out of the 2027 submissions.

None of that can be checked against an official list. The Academy does not publish which recordings were entered, so each account of an artist sitting out rests on an artist post, a label confirmation or a news report. The reaction has been large in music communities: a thread in r/Music posted on October 2 about Stray Kids joining the boycott carried about 2,759 points and 390 comments when it was checked on October 12. The reporting describes individual decisions by artists and agencies, not a collective withdrawal.

The other change this year is called Ballot Plus

Ballot Plus is the second change voters meet this month. Under the standard structure, which the Academy calls 10/3, a voting member can vote in up to 10 categories across three genre fields, plus the six categories in the General Field. Ballot Plus lets members who opt in vote in up to 15 peer-related categories regardless of field, based on their verified professional credits and contributions. Members who opt in must submit credits by a deadline, participation depends on verification of those credits, and anyone who does not opt in, misses the selection window or fails verification receives the standard 10/3 ballot.

The same June package added five categories and changed several eligibility rules. Best Asian Pop Music Performance, Best R&B Collaboration or Duo/Group Performance, Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Latin Song joined the list, while Best R&B Performance became Best R&B Solo Performance and Best Folk Album became Best Contemporary Folk Album. An artist can now be submitted for Best New Artist up to four times instead of three, the share of new recordings required on an eligible album dropped from 75 percent to 66 percent, internet-only releases became eligible in Best Album Notes and Best Historical Album when the extra materials come with the commercial download, and songwriters and composers of new material on winning albums in most genre categories now receive statuettes and certificates alongside producers and engineers.

Who can vote, and where the show airs

Voting is closed to the public. Ballots go to Recording Academy voting members in good standing, who are directed to vote only in categories where they work as peers, and ballots are tabulated by the accounting firm Deloitte. Fans cannot vote, and no public vote affects the nominees or the winners. Members reach the ballot through their dashboard or the Grammy One mobile app.

The ceremony moves to ABC for the first time since 1972 and will be simulcast on ABC, Disney+ and Hulu from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the Academy announced in May. Those three platforms are the ones named in the announcement, which does not describe how viewers outside the United States will be able to watch.

What the Academy has not published

The Academy has not published a list of entered recordings, the number of entries in the Asian pop category, the opt-in deadline for Ballot Plus or how many members chose it. It has also not said how a wider ballot affects voting in any single category.

Two official pages disagree on one figure. The awards process page says more than 300 experts sit on the genre screening committees that place recordings in categories; the Grammy 101 FAQ says more than 150. Both pages are current, and neither figure is dated.

The Academy's news index and press release page carried no statement about the Asian pop category in October when they were checked on October 12, 2026. The confirmation that the category will proceed, and the description of submissions as robust, come from reporting that quotes the Academy rather than from a published announcement. Until nominees are announced on November 16, the shape of the first Asian pop field is unknown.