Two fictional K-pop groups from Netflix’s animated film KPop Demon Hunters are seeing significant streaming success, with their songs occupying multiple spots in global music charts.
The Saja Boys, a virtual boy band from the film, currently have two songs sitting on the No.4 and No.8 spots on Spotify’s daily Top 50 – Global chart as of Tuesday (July 8).
The tracks — Your Idol and Soda Pop — have also made it to No. 15 and No. 17, respectively, on Apple Music’s Top 100: Global daily chart.
Saja Boys’ Your Idol is also currently No.1 on Spotify’s US Daily Top Songs chart, while Golden by Huntr/x, the film’s fictional girl group, is in the second position on the US chart and No.2 on Spotify’s daily Top 50 – Global chart.
As noted by the BBC, the US chart performance makes the Saja Boys the highest-charting male K-pop group in US Spotify history, topping heavyweights BTS. Huntr/x, meanwhile surpassed Blackpink’s previous peak performance on the chart.
Huntr/x have attracted 13.9 million listeners per month on Spotify. Saja Boys currently have 11.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify.
Huntr/x’s Golden also landed at No. 4 on Apple Music’s Top 100: Global daily chart. How It’s Done currently sits at No. 9 on Spotify and No. 25 on Apple Music.
The chart placements position these fictional groups alongside “real” artists like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Lady Gaga and Bruno Mars.
Variety reports that Golden has experienced a 2,000% increase in streams since the film produced by Sony Pictures Animation debuted on June 20.
The film, directed by Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans, stars the voices of Arden Cho, Ahn Hyo-seop, May Hong, Ji-young Yoo, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Ken Jeong, and Squid Game’s Lee Byung-hun.
Ian Eisendrath, who produced Golden, told Variety: “I find K-Pop to be the most theatrical genre of music today, and that obviously lends itself to the story and the screen.”
“Our goal from day one was to have the songs double-function as songs that forward or comment on the action story, because I do not believe you can take up screen time and not have it do something for the story.”
The film’s chart performance extends beyond Saja Boys and Huntr/x’s individual songs. The soundtrack for the Kpop Demon Hunters debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200, marking this year’s strongest debut for a film soundtrack, with Golden serving as the most-streamed track from the soundtrack globally.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/AzCAwdp1uIQ
Republic Records released Golden as an official single with instrumental and a cappella versions last Friday (July 4), according to Variety. The song will also reportedly be submitted by Netflix for awards consideration.
When it debuted, the film had 9.2 million views, reaching Netflix’s Top 10 in all 93 countries tracked, reaching No. 1 in 33 countries including South Korea, Brazil, France, Mexico and the Philippines, Variety said.
The chart success of the virtual K-pop groups come amid the rise of digital artists, particularly in K-pop. In September last year, K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment partnered with South Korean mobile network operator LG Uplus to develop AI-powered content for its first virtual artist, Naevis, including music videos, short-form videos, goods, and other content using images and videos generated by the AI platform.
HYBE, another K-pop giant, is also actively involved in the virtual artist space, having launched a virtual girl group called SYNDI8 and virtual artist MIDNATT last year.
Kakao Entertainment, the entertainment subsidiary of Korean internet company Kakao, also has a virtual K-pop girl band called MAVE, which debuted in January 2023. MAVE has so far garnered over 583,300 followers on TikTok and over 328,000 followers on Instagram.
Kakao launched MAVE in 2023 through Metaverse Entertainment, a joint venture with South Korean mobile game maker Netmarble.
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