When someone hears about a Billboard chart, their mind often jumps immediately to the “Billboard Hot 100,” which features the chart-topping releases of some of the biggest names in music. However, Billboard goes beyond celebrating its artists through the charts, this celebration and recognition extends onto an annual award show- the Billboard Music Awards. For short, called the BBMAs, the award show is usually broadcasted on a Sunday in May, more commonly in the third week. However, this year’s Awards witnessed an unexpected date change to the first day of May, the first time in years that the Awards were broadcasted this early. But, why was this change implemented? Look no further than the influence of K-pop boy group BTS.

BTS’ attendance at the Billboard Music Awards garnered the attention of both the audience and the talent that was present at the show. BTS arrived in the United States at the beginning of this week with a nomination for two awards, the Billboard Top Social Artist and Top Group. For weeks, BTS fans voted extensively for BTS through Twitter using the official BBMAs hashtag for Top Social Artist, one of the only two categories that are entirely based on numbers. These numbers are generated from retweets, tweets, and comments using the hashtag, which are used by fans of each fandom. Despite having won the award by overwhelming numbers for the past two years, BTS fans took to Twitter to work even harder to beat the previous record and vote for BTS.

They left Las Vegas on Thursday with both awards, which shocked both the group and their fans that night. This year was the group’s third nomination and win for the Top Social Award. This has been possible due to the cooperation between BTS and the overwhelming love and support of their fans. And for the first time ever, an award completely based on chart achievements and artistry, was taken home by BTS. The Top Group category pitted some of the biggest duos or names in American music against BTS, but BTS’ influence has proven that they do so much more beyond their art – making them inevitably deserving of this award.

BTS wrapped up the night with their second ever Billboard Music Awards performance, in which they performed their latest hit title track ‘Boy with Luv,’ with Billboard-acclaimed singer, Halsey. The performance was undoubtedly the most anticipated performance of the night, receiving both a standing ovation and even more eyes on the group as they continue their takeover of the United States.