KPop Demon Hunters Reaches Netflix’s Second-Highest Viewing Record, Maintaining Top Rankings for 9 Consecutive Weeks

Netflix’s animated series *KPop Demon Hunters* has sparked a massive wave throughout the global pop culture industry. From its release on June 20 to August 10, it accumulated 184.6 million views, pushing it to second place in Netflix’s all-time highest-viewed movie list. On August 15, the series topped the daily rankings in 63 countries, and based on current trends, it is expected to claim first place on Netflix’s all-time movie chart by next week, August 24. If that happens, it will join *Squid Game Season 1* as the highest-rated TV series in Netflix’s history. The weekly viewing count from August 11 to 17 was 26 million, ranking it first among all Netflix movies in both English and non-English categories, and it led the rankings in 59 countries including the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and Taiwan. *KPop Demon Hunters* tells the story of a K-pop idol group named HUNTRIX that fights demons and protects the world through music, featuring a combination of demon-exorcism themes and K-pop elements. The series accurately depicts Korean culture, encompassing both traditional and modern aspects such as Seoul streets, Namsan Seoul Tower, Seonggak-gil, hanbok, and gat. The concept in which the trio of girl groups in the series uses their songs to influence people’s souls and defend the human world from demons can be seen as an urban fantasy reinterpretation of shamanism and traditional music practices, serving as a metaphorical portrayal of K-pop and K-pop fandom culture. Industrially, while Sony handled production, Netflix was responsible for distribution and funding. However, most of the production team—including screenwriters, directors, art directors, voice actors, songwriters, composers, arrangers, singers, and choreographers—are Koreans, Korean Canadians, or Korean Americans with deep familiarity with K-culture. Director Maggie Kang is a Korean Canadian who immigrated to Canada as a child, and many consider K-pop to be the true protagonist of this animated series and the resulting phenomenon.