HUNTR/X’s ‘Golden’ tops Billboard Hot 100, breaks Korea all-kill record

HUNTR/X’s ‘Golden’ tops Billboard Hot 100, breaks Korea all-kill record | Daily Tribune

HUNTR/X's breakthrough song Golden is living up to its name, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its first week and making history in the process. The ecstatic anthem, which appears on the soundtrack of Netflix's smash-hit animated feature KPop Demon Hunters, marks the group's first Hot 100.

Golden, voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and REI AMI, has remained at the top of Billboard's Soundtracks chart for the seventh week in a row.

It's a significant milestone for K-pop: Golden is the ninth Korean-pop-related music to top the Hot 100, and the first lead entirely by female vocalists. The collaboration places HUNTR/X alongside recent chart-topping songs like Jung Kook's Seven (feat. Latto) and Jimin's Like Crazy, as well as BTS' six No. 1 hits from 2020-2021.

The song also makes history as the first fictional music group to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100 since Disney's Encanto's We Don't Talk About Bruno in 2022. Within the setting of the film, HUNTR/X (called in-universe as "HUNTRIX") is a girl group consisting of Rumi, Zoey, and Mira, lead by their half-demon, half-hunter protagonist.

The Billboard title, however, is not Golden's only record-breaking moment. In Korea, the track has recently set a new record for the most Perfect All-Kills (PAKs) in history, surpassing the previous marks held by K-pop powerhouses NewJeans and BTS. Following the broadcast of KPop Demon Hunters on June 20, Golden's popularity increased, eventually surpassing NewJeans' Ditto, who had held the PAK record since 2022. As of August 11, 10 a.m. KST, Golden reached its 656th hourly PAK, dethroning Ditto and placing BTS' Dynamite (610 PAKs) in third position.

Other acts on the all-time PAK leaderboard include IU’s Celebrity (462 in 2020), IVE’s I AM (359 in 2023), IU’s Love Wins All (339 in 2024), ZICO’s Any Song (330 in 2020), and aespa’s Supernova (317 in 2024).

What’s a Perfect All-Kill?

In K-pop, a Perfect All-Kill occurs when a song simultaneously ranks No. 1 across all major South Korean daily and real-time music charts — including Melon, Genie Music, YouTube Music, FLO, VIBE, and Bugs as tracked by iChart.