First K-pop Song by Female Artists to Climb to No. 1 Spot
The original soundtrack "Golden" from the Netflix animated film "K-pop Demon Hunters" has achieved the remarkable feat of reaching No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard main singles chart Hot 100.
Billboard announced in its chart preview article on Aug. 11 (local time) that Golden climbed one spot from the previous week to top the chart, surpassing Alex Warren’s "Ordinary." Billboard stated, “‘Golden’ is the eighth song associated with Korean pop to conquer the Hot 100 chart, and it’s also the first (No. 1) song sung by female vocalists.”
The Hot 100 rankings are calculated by combining U.S. streaming data, radio broadcast scores (airplay), and sales data. Golden recorded 31.7 million streams during this chart period, a 9% increase from the previous week. Radio broadcast scores increased by 71% to 8.4 million, while sales increased by 35% to 7,000.
Golden is a song performed by the virtual K-pop girl group "Huntrix" in K-pop Demon Hunters. It was sung by Lee Jae, a former SM Entertainment trainee turned composer, singer Audrey Nuna, and Ray Ami. All three are Korean-Americans. Billboard introduced, “Lee Jae and Ray Ami, the actual singers of Huntrix, were born in Seoul, Republic of Korea, while Audrey Nuna is from New Jersey, the United States.”
The song debuted on the Hot 100 at No. 81 early last month and has since climbed the chart, reaching No. 23, 6, 4, 2, 2, before finally reaching the top spot in its 7th week, riding on the success of the work.
To date, the only K-pop artists to reach No. 1 on this chart have been the group BTS (6 songs) and team members Jimin (1 song) and Jungkook (1 song). Golden is the first K-pop song sung by female artists to reach No. 1 on the Hot 100. The song is also topping other music charts, including Apple Music U.S. Daily Top 100 and the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100.
Meanwhile, as the song’s powerful high notes are considered a barometer of a singer’s skill, many K-pop stars including Bada from S.E.S., Lee Hae-ri of Davichi, Solar of Mamamoo, Jung Eun-ji of Apink, An Yu-jin of IVE, Sohyang, Ailee, and Kwon Jin-ah are participating in the trending "Golden Challenge."