For this year’s update of our ongoing Greatest Pop Star by Year project, Billboard will be counting down our editorial staff picks for the 10 Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 all the next two weeks. Last week, we revealed our Honorable Mentions artists for 2025 as well as our Rookie of the Year and Comeback of the Year artists. Now, we reach No. 6 on our list with a phenomenon that produced a combined seven major chart hits and countless more massive pop culture moments: the cast of KPop Demon Hunters.
Listen to our Greatest Pop Stars podcast discussion about the KPop Demon Hunters takeover year here.
When the KPop Demon Hunters trailer dropped in May, could anyone have predicted the runaway success it would enjoy for the entire back half of 2025? Certainly its soundtrack creators didn’t, nor did perhaps the greatest beneficiaries of that album’s command of the charts: Korean American singer-songwriters EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI, who provide the singing voices for the animated film’s demon slaying good guys, HUNTR/X.
Released in June, the film slowly climbed to become Netflix’s most streamed title of all time, while the soundtrack — with songs consciously crafted to stand alone as well as they work within a narrative — made a similar trek to the top of the charts; after debuting on the Billboard 200 at No. 8 in July, it continued to go up, up, up for 12 weeks, before finally reaching No. 1 on the chart dated Sept. 20. On the Billboard Hot 100, meanwhile, it became the first soundtrack with four simultaneous top 10 hits in the history of the ranking. K-pop superstars TWICE even got a boost for their single “Strategy,” which appears on the soundtrack: originally released in 2024, it peaked at No. 51 on the chart in September after debuting in August.
Meanwhile, the Saja Boys, HUNTR/X’s demon rivals who seek to capture hearts and souls through sticky pop tunes, put up a good fight against their female counterparts on the IRL charts. “Soda Pop” reached No. 3 on the Hot 100, spawning perhaps the most viral TikTok trend of the bunch; “Your Idol” peaked just below it at No. 4.
But “Golden,” in particular, was undeniable. As the turbo-charged new anthem from the girl group HUNTR/X — made up of part-time superheroes Rumi, Mira, and Zoey — in the film’s universe, it quickly also became the clear pick for real world success, ruling the Hot 100 for eight weeks and the Billboard Global 200 for 18 weeks, and still residing in the top five of both charts at the outset of 2026.
Audrey Nuna and REI AMI (who voice Mira and Zoey) had solo music careers prior to this project, but this was a more forward-facing role than usual for EJAE, who spent ten years of her early life as a K-pop trainee under SM Entertainment before being ultimately rejected. Instead of her desired career as an artist, she pivoted to songwriting, making hits for acts like Red Velvet, Aespa and Twice. All the way back in 2020, she was brought on to write music for KPop Demon Hunters — including, of course, “Golden” — working alongside composer Mark Sonnenblick and K-pop producers from THEBLACKLABEL and beyond; because so many demos featured EJAE’s voice, she was the natural pick to sing for Rumi.
The singer-songwriter couldn’t have predicted the level of attention that would come with that decision. As the signature HUNTR/X smash took hold of the charts, the leading ladies behind it became media fixtures in their own right. It was their moment, and they seized it: by late August, KPop Demon Hunters was still in high enough demand to warrant a limited singalong release in theaters, and the interest in the flick and its stars was still only growing.
For a trio that only assembled in person for the first time on the film’s red carpet (EJAE had, however, met REI AMI during the recording process, and had known Audrey Nuna separately for many years), their immediate chemistry as groupmates provided something tangible for fans of the movie to latch onto. That much was clear as the women of HUNTR/X made a surprise cameo during the October Saturday Night Live episode hosted by Bad Bunny, with the Latin superstar hilariously calling upon them to help seal the Honmoon; a few days later, in their official television debut, they performed a full-length rendition of “Golden” on the The Tonight Show, where they were also presented with a platinum record by Jimmy Fallon.
The hype was undeniable during the late summer, yet buzz stayed steady through the final quarter of 2025. In fact, KPop Demon Hunters commanded much of the late-year holiday season: HUNTR/X costumes flew off the shelves at Halloween (much to the dismay of parents frantically trying to get their hands on them), while the singers themselves brought cute character touches — space-bun-esque earmuffs, a fuzzy purple headband — to their showstopping performance at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. In December, the trio took to the turf to sing “Golden Rings” during Snoop Dogg’s epic halftime show at NFL Christmas Gameday, then brought the year to a close hitting crazy high notes on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
Meanwhile, they’ve already hit the ground running in 2026. EJAE is gearing up to drop a second solo single, “Time After Time,” to follow her 2025 debut “In Another World” — and, with a KPop Demon Hunters sequel slated for 2029, it’s all but confirmed that we’ll hear the singing voices of HUNTR/X together again. As for music from the human trio, outside of the movies? “The three of us? Of cou- ” EJAE let slip to Billboard on the Jingle Ball red carpet in early December. But, catching herself mid-reply, the singer-songwriter chose to keep the mystery alive for now, adding, “Who knows? We’d love to, are you kidding?”
There’s no rush, considering the semi-fictional girl group likely has a few more accolades to pick up this awards season. After the film’s historic double win at 2026’s Golden Globes, its soundtrack is poised to take home additional trophies at the Grammys, where “Golden” is nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, among other categories.
Following the song’s Oscar nomination, too, there’s hope that the ladies of HUNTR/X will sing live at the televised show in March — an impressive stage for the ascendant new pop stars, who dreamed harder and came farther than they probably ever imagined for themselves in 2025.
Listen to our KPop Demon Hunters Cast Greatest Pop Stars of 2025 podcast discussion here, check back for our No. 5 artist Monday, and stay tuned all next week as we roll out the top five of our list — leading to the announcement of our No. 1 Greatest Pop Star of 2025 on Friday, Jan. 30!
