Despite real-life K-pop groups like BTS, BLACKPINK, NewJeans and Stray Kids contributing to the genre’s US$10 billion global footprint, the biggest act in K-pop right now isn’t even real.
Two animated pop groups, HUNTR/X and Saja Boys, have stormed the US Billboard charts over the past fortnight, notching a combined six Billboard Hot 100 entries and a top 40 hit each.
If you haven’t heard of them, it’s probably because they didn’t exist until a few weeks ago.
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Both are fictional acts created by the team behind the hit animated Netflix musical KPop Demon Hunters.
The two acts are also dominating streaming charts thanks to staggering monthly listener numbers: HUNTR/X has amassed 13.9 million listeners, while Saja Boys trails close behind with 11.4 million.
Saja Boys tracks Your Idol and Soda Pop are sitting at No.4 and No.8 on Spotify’s Daily Top 50 – Global, and reached No.15 and No.17 on Apple Music’s Top 100: Global.
On Spotify’s US Daily Top Songs chart, Your Idol holds the No.1 spot — making Saja Boys the highest-charting male K-pop group in US Spotify history, surpassing BTS.
Meanwhile, HUNTR/X’s Golden is No.2 in both the US and globally on Spotify, and No.4 on Apple Music.
Sitting on global charts alongside real-life acts like Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter and Bruno Mars, Golden saw a 2000 per cent spike in streams after the film’s June 20 release and was issued as an official single by Republic Records.
The track has also been submitted for consideration in the Best Original Song category at the 2026 Oscars by Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation.
To meet the Academy’s strict eligibility rules, the film had a limited theatrical run from June 20 to 26 in three major US cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York), to coincide with its Netflix streaming release.
This strategic approach qualifies the song despite the film’s streaming-first model; a method Netflix has increasingly mastered, with recent Best Animated Feature Film nominations including Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Nimona.
KPop Demon Hunters is the first musical since Disney’s Encanto to make such a broad impact on the US charts. Its soundtrack debuted at No.8 on the Billboard 200, the strongest film soundtrack debut of the year, and far surpassing Encanto’s debut at No.197 in 2021.
But Netflix has a long way to go if it hopes to out-perform Encanto, which dominated the Billboard charts in 2022 thanks to songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
We Don’t Talk About Bruno hit No.1 on the Hot 100, the soundtrack topped the Billboard 200 (ousting Adele’s 30), and all eight original songs entered the Hot 100 – with multiple tracks reaching the top 10.
While Golden was co-written by Korean-American songwriter EJAE – known for her work with Red Velvet and TWICE – and musical theatre composer Mark Sonnenblick, the success of HUNTR/X and Saja Boys shows how virtual idols are now competing with, and sometimes surpassing, real-life artists on the global stage.
Last week 7NEWS.com.au reported on the rise of AI band The Velvet Sundown.
The ‘70s-inspired psych-rock band has more than 858,000 monthly Spotify listeners and is being recommended in algorithmic playlists like Discover Weekly.
