KPop Demon HuntersNetflix

BTS Record Dethroned By KPop Demon Hunters’ Fictional Saja Boys

by · Forbes

While it’s clear that KPop Demon Hunters is a great animated film on Netflix, what wasn’t predicted was just how wildly popular its fictional KPop groups would instantly become in the real world.

The soundtrack for KPop Demon Hunters has been shooting up the Billboard charts, debuting at No. 8 on the list, and it’s expected to rise from here. But even more impressive is that the fictional boy band from the group, Saja Boys have just broken a record previously held by the world-famous BTS.

Saja Boys’ track from the film, Your Idol, has become the highest charting KPop boy band in US Spotify history with a current No. 2 spot. That bests BTS’ Dynamite, which hit No. 3 in 2020.

With one of the biggest fanbases in the world, some BTS devotees are not thrilled about this, but the band themselves know of and seem to like the Saja Boys and the film. Member RM was seen singing Saja Boys’ catchy Soda Pop on a livestream.

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The irony of all this is that in the story of KPop Demon Hunters, the Saja Boys are secretly demons who siphon protective power as they rise on the charts, unseating world protectors HUNTR/X as they need fan support to keep a demon-shielding barrier in place. Hopefully, that is not the case with the real world. But don’t fear for HUNTR/X, as their song Golden, by last count, had more streams than Saja Boys.

There are, of course, real singers behind Saja Boys, even if they’re not a band in real life. In the film, the group is voiced by Ahn Hyo-seop, Joel Kim Booster, Alan Lee, and SungWon Cho, with their singing vocals performed by Andrew Choi, Samuil Lee, Kevin Woo, Neckwav, and Danny Chung

KPop Demon Hunters is a huge hit for Netflix, gearing up to submit itself for both Grammy and Oscar consideration for its music and the film itself, respectively. It seems possible, if not extremely likely that Netflix will want to lean into this with a sequel or series. There’s even talk about a real-life adaptation of the film, but nothing official has been announced yet.

We simply don’t see anything happen like this that often. It’s not the first time soundtracks from films have gone big, of course, but a pair of fictional pop groups attracting this much attention and praise is another level entirely. We’ll see how high HUNTR/X and Saja Boys can rise.

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