MONSTER SMASH

The secret to KPop Demon Hunters' record-breaking success on Netflix and on the charts? It's controversy-free

- By BRITTANY SPANOS

As 2025 draws to an end, the year’s biggest albums will feature some familiar names – Morgan, Taylor, Sabrina – and one out-of-nowhere smash. KPop Demon Hunters, the soundtrack to the Netflix animated film about a fictional, evil-slaying girl group, broke records back in August with the most UK album streams in a week for a soundtrack ever. It also became the first soundtrack to have four singles in the UK top 10 at the same time. And it’s all been buoyed by a passionate audience that helped to make the movie Netflix’s biggest title ever.

That the plot of Demon Hunters centres on superfans – in the movie’s colourful world, Huntr/x use their voices to battle enemy boy band Saja Boys, each supported by an army of devotees – is somewhat ironic, considering there was no fanbase to speak of before the movie’s June release. And that’s exactly what helped the franchise succeed. While K-pop is a multibillion-dollar global business, it’s often troubled by so-called “antis”, who pit musical groups – and their respective companies – against one another in what’s become an impediment to wide acclaim.

The film plays with the expression of fandom realistically: passionate, screaming, consumerist, maybe even a little fickle in deciding which group they love more. To make the story fully work, the music needed to be pretty believable. With songs that boast writing credits from the likes of Ejae, Teddy Park and Jenna Andrews, the soundtrack delivered just that: Huntr/x’s ‘Golden’ was a UK number one for 10 nonconsecutive weeks, while Saja Boys’ ‘Soda Pop’ sat in the UK top 10 for 15 weeks, peaking at number three. It was a similar story in the US.