KPop Demon Hunters OST Claims Top Spots on Both U.S. Billboard Singles and Albums Charts – First Time in 5 Years for K-Pop

The original soundtrack (OST) for Netflix’s animated film *KPop Demon Hunters* has achieved a historic milestone by simultaneously dominating America’s Billboard main singles chart and albums chart. The lead track of the OST, “Golden,” remained at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for its fifth consecutive week as of September 15 (local time). This represents the longest-running number one streak for an animated song, surpassing the previous records held by The Archies’ “Sugar, Sugar” (4 weeks) in 1969 and The Chipmunks’ “The Chipmunk Song” (4 weeks) in 1958. The KPop Demon Hunters OST also reached number one for the first time this week on Billboard’s main albums chart, the “Billboard 200.” After debuting at number 8 in its first week, it held number 2 for seven non-consecutive weeks before finally claiming the top spot on the chart dated September 20. Thanks to the release of a deluxe edition and CD distribution on September 5, the OST recorded 128,000 album units during this chart period. Streaming figures increased by 1% compared to the previous week, while physical album sales rose by 56%. It has been five years since any K-Pop act last claimed both Billboard’s singles and albums charts simultaneously. The last time this occurred was in December 2020, when BTS achieved it with their album *BE* and its Title Track “Life Goes On.” “Golden” also delivered outstanding results across various Billboard sub-charts. It stayed at number one on the “Streaming Songs” chart for the eighth week in a row, climbed from position 24 to 20 on the “Radio Songs” chart, and reached number 3 on the “Digital Song Sales” chart. During this chart period, “Golden” saw a 2% decline in streaming counts to 33.8 million streams compared to the previous week, but its radio play score increased by 19% to 26.3 million. The KPop Demon Hunters OST achieved even more remarkable results. In addition to “Golden” on the Hot 100, four other tracks from the soundtrack made it into the top 10: “Your Idol” by the ghost boy band Sazaboyz at number 4, “Soda Pop” at number 5, and “How It's Done” by HUNTR/X at number 8. This marks the highest number of tracks from a single soundtrack to enter the top 10 in nearly 30 years, and it is also the first time in soundtrack history that four tracks have reached the top 10. “Golden” first entered the Hot 100 at position 81 and, by this week, has climbed to positions 23, 6, 4, 2, 2, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1, and 1, remaining on the chart for 12 consecutive weeks. The KPop Demon Hunters OST’s victory at number one on the Billboard 200 is also historic. This is the first time such a feat has occurred in three years, since Disney’s film *Encanto*’s soundtrack held the top spot for nine weeks in 2022. Furthermore, it took the longest time of 12 weeks for an OST to reach number one after release, which is the longest duration since almost 50 years ago. The success of EJAE (Rumi), Audrey Nuna (Mira), and REI AMI (Joy), who provided the vocals for HUNTR/X in the film, has set a new milestone not only for K-Pop but also for animated music history.