K-Pop's Soundtrack Soars to No. 2 on Billboard, Dominates Melon Chart

animation soundtrack-Billboard

SEOUL, July 14 (Yonhap) -- In its third week, the music from the animation movie "KPop Demon Hunters" reached number two on the Billboard 200 album rankings, thanks to the worldwide appeal of this American-made film about an imaginary K-pop female band.

According to Billboard, published on Sunday (in local time), the album climbed one rank from number three in the prior week, achieving its top placement on the chart so far.

Following its release on June 20, the soundtrack made an appearance at position 8, then climbed five places to reach number 3 during the previous week.

"A KPop Demon Hunter" is a Netflix-exclusive musical animated series showcasing the renowned girl band HUNTR/X, tasked with safeguarding humanity from malevolent entities.

Alongside the soundtracks from "Wicked," "Barbie," and "Encanto," just five movie album collections have made it into the top two positions on the Billboard 200 during the 2020s, including the film’s music.

The Billboard 200 lists the top-selling albums for the week in America, calculated using combined album units which include physical purchases, track-based equivalents, and stream-based equivalents.

In the most recent tracking period, the "KPop Demon Hunters" soundtrack generated 75,000 equivalent album units, marking an increase of 21% compared to the prior week. Out of this amount, 70,000 were attributed to streaming equivalent album units.

"The first soundtrack to enter the top 10 on the Billboard 200 and subsequently experience sales growth in its second and third weeks since the 'Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2' album from 2017," Billboard noted in a weekly chart update.

With 96.33 million plays for its tracks during its third week, the 'KPop Demon Hunters' soundtrack achieved the highest streaming week for a soundtrack in over three years, according to the statement, which noted that the previous largest streaming total for a soundtrack came from "Encanto" in 2022.

The music track's popularity has reached South Korea, where K-pop originated.

Golden," performed by HUNTR/X, the girl group from the film, reached number one on the Top 100 chart of the nation's top music streaming service, Melon, surpassing Allday Project's "Famous" and aespa's "Dirty Work.

By 8 a.m. on Monday, six tracks from the album had made it onto the charts, featuring "Soda Pop" at position 5, "Your Idol" at 19, "How It's Done" at 54, "Takedown" at 93, and "Free" at 98.

The music collection is anticipated to keep its position on the charts, as several songs are also predicted to stay within the Billboard Hot 100 list for this week.

sshim@yna.co.kr

(END)

The copyright (c) Yonhap News Agency restricts the redistribution or reproduction of its material without permission, and also bans the use of its content by artificial intelligence systems.