Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” Becomes a Global Cultural Phenomenon in 2025, Named TIME’s Breakthrough of the Year

Netflix’s animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” has been confirmed as a global cultural phenomenon in 2025. The American weekly magazine TIME selected this film as its “Breakthrough of the Year,” and it also received nominations in three categories at the Golden Globe Awards. The film’s success is evident in hard numbers. Just three months after its release on Netflix in June, it reached 325 million views, making it the most-watched film in Netflix’s history. TIME stated, “Since Disney’s ‘Frozen’ in 2013, no animated film has penetrated every aspect of public life to this extent.” The soundtrack likewise set records. The title track “Golden” topped the Billboard Global 200 chart for 18 weeks (17 weeks according to other counts), while the entire album reached number one on the Billboard 200 chart for two consecutive weeks in September and October. The OST accumulated over 8.3 billion streams worldwide. For the first time, four songs from the soundtrack—including “Golden,” “How It's Done,” “Your Idol,” and “Soda Pop”—entered the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart simultaneously. This achievement holds significant historical importance within the music industry. The Recording Academy nominated a K-pop girl group for a Grammy Award for the first time in its history. The voice actors who portrayed the K-pop group HUNTRIX in the film—Lee Jae, Audrey Nuuna, and Lay Ami—were nominated in multiple categories, including “Song of the Year” and “Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.” In particular, “Golden” set a record as the longest-running number one song by a girl group on the Billboard Hot 100 in the 21st century. The film’s success is rooted in the growing global influence of K-pop. TIME noted that the rising prominence of Korean culture, represented by groups from BTS and BLACKPINK to films from “Parasite” to “Squid Game,” provided the foundation for this phenomenon. However, the film holds special significance as it is an original work rather than a simple adaptation of existing IP. It is unusual for an original animated film created with a production budget of around $100 million using a completely new story to achieve such success in an era reliant on familiar franchises. Lee Jae, who voiced Leader Rumi—the leader of HUNTRIX in the film—stated in an interview with TIME, “South Korea is a country that demands perfection. People are expected to be perfect, achieve good grades, look beautiful, and be thin. But this film says, ‘You don’t have to be perfect; imperfection can actually be beautiful.’” Audrey Nuuna, who voiced Joy, added, “As a woman of color growing up in the United States, I faced pressure to live in a certain way. Life and art are essentially resistance against that pressure.” The cultural phenomenon spread beyond theaters into everyday life. During its theatrical release in August, over 1,300 showings across three continents were sold out. Netflix achieved its first-ever number one spot on the box office charts, generating approximately $18 million in revenue. All five of the top Halloween costume searches were related to characters from the film. Tennis player Novak Djokovic danced to “Soda Pop” after winning the US Open. Famous actors and musicians also promoted the film by appearing on major shows such as SNL and Jimmy Fallon’s show, with superstar Bad Bunny participating in a SNL sketch highlighting the film’s excellence.