KPop Demon Hunters OST “Golden” Ranks No. 2 on Billboard for Second Consecutive Week; BTS’s V Tops Instagram Music Influence List

“Golden,” the OST for Netflix’s animated film *KPop Demon Hunters*, held the No. 2 position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 main singles chart for two weeks in a row. Since debuting at No. 81 earlier last month, the song saw rapid upward momentum driven by the film’s success and has now remained in the Top 10 of the Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks. During the latest chart period, “Golden” recorded 28.9 million streams, a 13% increase from the previous week, securing it the fifth straight time as the most-streamed track on the Hot 100. With support from a remix by renowned DJ David Guetta released on May 25, radio play scores rose by 31% to 4.9 million plays, while sales increased by 19% to 5,000 units. The song was performed by EJAE, a composer who was once a Trainee at SM Entertainment, along with American-Korean singers Audrey Nuna and Ray Aimee, and it serves as the track for the fictional K-pop girl group Huntrix in the film. “Your Idol” by Lion Boyz, the rival boy group to Huntrix in the movie, also entered the Hot 100’s Top 10, rising three spots to land at No. 9. The Billboard chart calculates rankings by combining U.S. streaming data, radio play scores, and sales figures. K-pop idols’ influence on social media has also surged significantly. In the 2025 annual Instagram music influence ranking released by global influencer analysis platform TOP NINE on May 5, BTS’s V (Kim Tae-hyung) topped the list across all categories worldwide, including those for Korean music influencers. Led by BTS members, j-hope ranked second, Jimin third, and Lay fifth, while BLACKPINK secured three spots within the Top 10. The only artist outside K-pop idols to make it into the Top 10 was Taylor Swift, who finished at No. 4. Performance in the music industry also remained strong. On May 7, SM Entertainment announced that its group revenue for the first quarter increased by 5.2% year-over-year to $231.4 million (approximately 324 billion won). This growth was driven by rising earnings from music and concert activities, primarily from SM’s K-pop groups such as NCT 127, EXO, RIIZE, and aespa. The revenue of SM Entertainment itself surged by 21.5% to $165.5 million (approximately 231.7 billion won). Although first-quarter album sales dropped to 920,000 units from 2.76 million units in the previous year, concert revenues from global tours by NCT, aespa, TVXQ!, Yesung, Minho, Taeyeon, WayV, and others offset this decline. First-quarter operating profit skyrocketed by 109.6% to $32.6 million (approximately 45.6 billion won), while net profit reached $242.9 million (approximately 340.1 billion won), a 1,852.4% increase from the same period last year. This strong result was fueled by one-time music-related earnings, including the acquisition of the fan community app “DearU.” SM Entertainment plans to release new singles by SHINee, aespa, and Hearts2Hearts, as well as new albums by KAI, RIIZE, BoA, SUPER JUNIOR, KEY, and NCT DREAM in the second and third quarters. The debut album of the newly formed girl group Hearts2Hearts, which made its debut on the 24th of this month, sold 408,000 copies in its first week.