From The Straits Times    |

K-pop fans proved that they are the world’s most fanatical lot when wildly popular Korean boyband Big Bang clinched the Best Worldwide Act award at the 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards, held in Belfast on Sunday.

Big Bang wins Best Worldwide Act at 2011 MTV Europe Music Awards

This was thanks to their rabid fans, who came out in full force to vote their favourite K-pop boyband to the top. Out of the 158 million votes received at this year’s awards, 58 million votes – or almost one-third of the total – went to Big Bang. They were also the most tweeted topic on the EMA’s official Twitter tracker.

If the boys looked slightly stunned when their name was announced, it was because they had to see off the likes of American superstar Britney Spears and European pop sensation Lena to grab the inaugural award. Other nominees for the category included Latin America’s Restart and Moroccan singer Abdelfattah Grini. Nope, their names don’t exactly ring a bell for us either.

In their acceptance speech, Big Bang members G-Dragon and Taeyang took turns to thank their adoring fans, in a cute mixture of Korean and English. “This is only because of our fans, through all the ups and downs. Thank you for standing by us,” said Taeyang.

Indeed, Big Bang have had a tough time this year, with band leader G-Dragon getting booked by the police for smoking marijuana, and Daesung being investigated over a fatal car accident.

Nevertheless, with their EMA win, Big Bang have proven to their detractors that they’re back in the game. Next stop: World domination? With a little help from their crazy fans, that shouldn’t be a problem at all.

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