'KPop Demon Hunters': Wins Golden Globe and Grammy Awards, Exceeds 500 Million Views

Netflix’s popular animated film 'KPop Demon Hunters' is achieving global success as it receives widespread acclaim at international film festivals and music awards.

'KPop Demon Hunters' won the Best Animated Feature award at this year’s Golden Globe ceremony, while the film’s soundtrack track "Golden" took home the Best Original Song award. "Golden" has been nominated for five Grammy Awards and is currently on the shortlist for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Released in June of last year, the film has accumulated over 500 million views worldwide since its release, making it Netflix’s most-watched title in history. It also generated more than $20 million in revenue at the global box office. "Golden" has been streamed over 1.3 billion times on Spotify, and its official music video has surpassed 1 billion views on YouTube.

'KPop Demon Hunters' has expanded the influence of K-pop music across the globe. K-pop is a musical genre that blends various sounds such as pop, hip-hop, electronic dance music, and traditional Korean music, all combined with energetic dance moves. The success of this film has led to a surge in interest in K-pop in many regions.

Ki-Joon Park, a Korean missionary working in Indonesia, accidentally heard "Golden" playing in a café in Malang. That same evening, he witnessed a group of teenagers near the church singing along to the lyrics in Korean. In this way, the film and music serve as channels for cultural exchange and communication through K-pop.

It is reported that the success of "Golden" was inspired by Drake’s 2009 song "Forever." Chris Appelhans, the film’s director, stated during a Reddit AMA in 2025 that one of the main influences for "Golden" was "Forever," which features Drake, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, and Eminem. Despite their significant musical differences, the two songs share many similarities in their overall messaging.

Meanwhile, E-JAE, the voice actor who performed in the film, revealed in his Golden Globe acceptance speech that he had previously failed as a K-pop idol trainee, saying that that setback changed the direction of his career. This example illustrates that this fictional band behind "Golden" possesses a level of audience reach comparable to real K-pop groups.