Netflix’s “KPop Demon Hunters” OST Dominates Charts in UK and US – First Such Achievement for K-POP in 13 Years

“The GOLDEN” theme song from Netflix’s music fantasy animated film “KPop Demon Hunters” has taken control of major global music charts. This marks the first time K-POP has reached the top of a chart in the UK since Psy’s “Gangnam Style” 13 years ago. According to the latest chart results released on the third day, “The GOLDEN” topped the UK Official Chart Top 100, while it currently holds the second position on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 main singles chart. It also secured first place on Melon’s domestic music platform’s “Top 100.” Other tracks from the same OST, including “Your Idol,” reached the 10th position on the Official Chart, and “Soda Pop” came in at 11th, demonstrating the overall strength of the OST album. The Official Chart described “The GOLDEN’s” success in staying in the Top 100 for six consecutive weeks as “another groundbreaking moment for the Korean music genre.” It has been three years since an animated film song last reached number one on the Official Singles Chart, with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” by Enchanto achieving that feat in 2022. “The GOLDEN” was performed by the fictional girl group HUNTR/X from the movie, though the actual vocals were provided by EJAE, a former Trainee at SM Entertainment, American-Korean singer Audrey NuNa, and Ray Aimi. Producers such as Teddy from the renowned K-POP agency The Black Label also contributed to its composition and production, drawing significant attention. On the U.S. Billboard chart, the OST album “KPop Demon Hunters” reached the second position on the Billboard 200. It rose one place to second in the latest chart released on the fourth day, breaking its own record with 93,000 album units sold since its release. Karl Smith, editor at the UK’s official chart company, said this achievement is an indicator of “how popular K-POP is today.” Since its release on June 20, the film “KPop Demon Hunters” has achieved the best performance among all Netflix original animated films to date. It has surpassed 220.8 million hours of cumulative viewing time and set a record by gaining 100,000 new Instagram followers within just one month. A strong “KDEHUN” dance challenge trend is also sweeping short-form video platforms. Popular artists such as ZEROBASEONE, BOYNEXTDOOR, PLAVE, RIIZE, and TWS have successively uploaded cover and challenge videos, with ZEROBASEONE’s video accumulating 17.16 million views and BOYNEXTDOOR’s video reaching 11.06 million views. RM from BTS also became a topic of discussion after posting a video dancing and singing along to “Soda Pop” during a live performance.