K-POP Dominates U.S. Pop Culture During Halloween Season···HUNTR/X Costumes Take Over

Korean pop music has become a major cultural trend during the U.S. Halloween season. According to Google’s “Frightgeist” Halloween costume search data, the most popular Halloween costumes this year feature characters from Netflix’s animated film “KPop Demon Hunters.” Rumi, Zoey, and Mira, members of the female singer group HUNTR/X who hunt demons, occupied the top three spots. Jinu and Baby Saga from the male demon band The Saga Boys filled fourth and fifth place, while Derpy the Tiger, another character from the film, ranked eighth. Over 80% of all urban areas had at least one “KPop Demon Hunters” costume among the top five trending costumes, and in Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Houston, all five top costumes were characters from this film. In more than half of U.S. cities, Rumi was listed as the most trending Halloween costume. In the children’s costume category as well, Rumi took first place, followed by Labubu in second and Zoey in third. Most of the top seven children’s costumes were characters from “KPop Demon Hunters.” Anticipating this demand, Spirit Halloween partnered with Netflix to sell “KPop Demon Hunters” costumes for both adults and children, but many products are currently out of stock online. The success of the film has extended beyond K-POP to influence music charts as well. The film’s theme song “Golden,” performed by HUNTR/X voice actors Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, is currently at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, with all four songs from the film’s soundtrack also making it onto the chart. “Golden” also received a nomination for “Song of the Summer” at the 2025 MTV VMA Awards, marking HUNTR/X’s first VMA nomination. The “KPop Demon Hunters” film, released on Netflix in June, became a box office hit in August with a singalong version and currently ranks as the second-most streamed film in the U.S. Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami further boosted the film’s popularity by appearing on “Saturday Night Live” on October 4 and “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” on October 7. Meanwhile, in September’s individual idol brand reputation index, IVE’s Jisoo topped the list with 7,643,112 points, showing a sharp increase of 119.54% compared to August. BTS’s Jimin remained in second place with 5,536,876 points, while BLACKPINK’s Rosé held third place with 4,739,276 points.