[OSENWORLD] The KPop Demon Hunters phenomenon shows no sign of slowing down — and its cultural impact is now being compared to John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever in the 1970s and Whitney Houston’s Waiting to Exhale in the 1990s.
At the center of the wave is HUNTR/X’s “Golden,” which has stayed at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two consecutive weeks — the first girl group to top the chart in 24 years, following Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious” in 2001. Though HUNTR/X exists only in the film, the track — voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI — has made history as the first Billboard No. 1 by a K-pop girl group.
Like Saturday Night Fever and Waiting to Exhale, the soundtrack is making history of its own. This week, four songs from KPop Demon Hunters landed in the Hot 100 Top 10 at once — “Golden” (No. 1), “Your Idol” (No. 4, Tiger Boyz), “Soda Pop” (No. 5, Tiger Boyz), and “How It’s Done” (No. 10, HUNTR/X) — an unprecedented feat in Billboard history. On Spotify, the dominance is even clearer: as of August 23, seven of the Top 8 U.S. tracks were from the film’s OST.
“Golden” alone drew 31.7 million streams, 8.4 million radio impressions, and 7,000 digital sales in a week, while the soundtrack album soared to No. 2 on the Billboard 200. Beyond numbers, its success signals a turning point for K-pop girl groups worldwide, ending a decades-long drought on the U.S. charts and underscoring their global potential.
Much like Travolta’s disco fever and Whitney’s R&B wave defined eras past, KPop Demon Hunters is ushering in the defining soundtrack story of the 2020s — a blend of K-pop, animation, and global pop culture creating a new golden age.
/k_inside@osen.co.kr
