South Korean pop group BTS wins TIME 100 reader poll

New York, April 18

South Korean pop group BTS has won the online reader’s poll for TIME ‘Person of the Year 2018’.

BTS — which stands for ‘Bangtan Sonyeondan’ or ‘Beyond the Scene’ — easily dominated this year’s poll, garnering over 15 per cent of the vote.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in finised second with 5 per cent votes, followed by former US President Barack Obama with three percent votes.

TIME said the group has topped Billboard’s Social charts for almost all of 2017 and 2018, won the Top Social Artist title at last year’s Billboard Music Awards and earned a spot on TIME’s list of the Most Influential People on the Internet in 2017.

BTS, which consists of singers RM, Jin, Suga, j-hope, Jimin, V and Jungkook, is just one of a number of K-pop groups with massive fanbases.

“But in particular they have proven themselves capable of transcending the Asian market with their hip-hop-meets-pop songs, sharp choreography and high-concept music videos,” TIME said.

While TIME editors are responsible for selecting the TIME 100, the online reader poll opens up voting to the general public. In 2017, Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte was the winner of the reader poll, racking up 5 per cent of the online vote.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Microsoft’s Indian-born CEO Satya Nadella, US President Doanld Trump, newly re-elected Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are among the contenders this year for TIME magazine’s list of 100 most influential people who have made an impact on the contemporary world.

Others on the list this year are: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Pakistani-American actor Kumail Nanjiani, Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon chief Jeff Bezos, members of the British Royal family - Prince William and his wife Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Prince Henry and his fiancee Meghan Markle and former President of the US Barack Obama. PTI