Here's How BTS's Stats Compare To VMAs' "Video Of The Year" Nominees

The nominations for MTV‘s 2019 Video Music Awards (VMAs) have received heavy criticism from fans and critics alike, who claim that BTS deserves to be a “Video of the Year” nominee.

Recently, MTV announced the nominees for this year’s VMAs. Global superstars BTS earned not one, but four nominations with their smash hit, “Boy With Luv” (feat. Halsey). They were nominated for “Best Art Direction”, “Best Collaboration”, “Best Choreography”, and “Best K-Pop” (a brand new category), but not the big award of the night: “Video of the Year”.

Since MTV has not made their selection criteria public, it is unclear how nominees are selected, but supporters believe that BTS has both the numbers and quality needed to earn them a “Video of the Year” nomination.

On July 31, MarketWatch released a comparison graph that reveals how BTS’s 2019 US sales measure up to the “Video of the Year” nominees’. So far in 2019, BTS has sold 573,000 albums in the US and 445,000 digital tracks.

This means they outsold all of the “Video of the Year” nominees with album sales. Their closest contender for album sales is Billie Eilish.

For digital track sales, BTS outsold the “Video of the Year” nominee with the lowest digital track sales, 21 Savage.

If they had been nominated, they would place 6th out of 7th among the nominees in digital track sales. The top-selling “Video of the Year” nominee for digital sales is Lil Nas X.

BTS’s video and audio streaming stats also place them among today’s most popular artists in the US. For audio streaming, BTS out-ranks the Jonas Brothers, and they are nearly on par with Lil Nas X. For video streaming, BTS out-ranks Taylor Swift, 21 Savage, and the Jonas Brothers.

With numbers like these, it’s easy to see why the VMAs have been accused of snubbing BTS. Even though BTS will not be taking home “Video of the Year”, many fans are hoping to see them win in one or more of the categories they have been nominated for.