GLOBAL DOMINANCE

In 2025, K-pop solidified its popularity through historic Grammy nominations and record-breaking stadium tours

- STORY: SUWITCHA CHAIYONG

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This year was another in which K-pop continued global expansion. Let's start with Netflix's animation, KPop Demon Hunters, which features the popular soundtrack Golden, sung by Huntr/x, a trio girl group. Written by Ejae, a Korean American singer-songwriter and Mark Sonnenblick, Golden ranked number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks. Golden was not only a popular animation soundtrack, but also received four Grammy nominations: Song of the Year, Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, Best Song Written for Visual Media and Best Remixed Record.

Besides Golden, the song APT sung by Rosé of Blackpink and also featuring Bruno Mars was nominated for Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the Grammy.

Katseye, an international girl group (with members from the Philippines, South Korea, Switzerland and the United States), created by a collaboration of Hybe, a Korean music label, and Geffen, an American label, was a nominee for Grammy's Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. Though Katseye has only one Korean singer, the group was trained in the intense K-pop system. The group proved that strict K-pop training methodology is accepted at an international level. The result of the Grammy winners will be announced at the ceremony on Feb 1.

Meanwhile, K-pop groups like Blackpink and J-Hope of BTS received overwhelming feedback from fans when they performed as headliners at international music festivals. For example, Blackpink performed at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2023 and J-Hope was a headliner at Chicago Lollapalooza in 2022. Their immense success increased opportunities for K-pop sensations to perform at international music festivals.