The “KPop Demon Hunters” soundtrack continues to hunt down more slots in the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100. As of the newly revealed weekly chart, four songs from the album are now in the top 10, simultaneously — the first time that has happened for any soundtrack album in the history of the Hot 100.
“Golden” remains at No. 1 for a second week, after finally having pushed out Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” last week. It is joined again in the top 10 by “Your Idol,” which repeats at No. 4, and “Soda Pop,” which moves up five spots to No. 5. The fresh addition to the top 10 that allowed the soundtrack to make history with four top 10 slots is “How It’s Done,” which got a four-spot boost to land at No. 10 this week.
There are four previous examples of a soundtrack generating four top 10 songs in the Hot 100, but none of them had all four of those songs landing that high concurrently. The last time any soundtrack had four or more top 10 hits, according to Billboard, was three decades ago, when “Waiting to Exhale” had five in 1995-96 … bot those five tunes were not all in the top 10 concurrently, the way the current hits from “Demon Hunters” are.
Billboard also notes that the last time a soundtrack had three songs in the top 5 at once was when “Saturday Night Fever” did that in 1978.
Most industry observers would say that, by most measures, “Golden” has been the most popular song in the country for more than just two weeks. But it was held back for a while in the No. 2 slot because its success was primarily due to streaming and it was getting very little radio play (a la the “We Don’t Care About Bruno” phenomenon). But even as streaming continues to see small week-over-week growth, radio is coming on board in a bigger way. This week, airplay for “Golden” was up an impressive 39%, to 16.2 million radio airplay audience impressions.
There’s still a major imbalance between streaming and radio play for “Golden.” Billboard reports that the smash is No. 1 on the streaming songs chart for a fifth straight week, while, even with the 39% radio increase, it’s still only No. 42 on the radio songs chart. But even a modicum of airplay may be enough to keep “Golden” atop the Hot 100, given its streaming indomitability.
In fact, its strength may only increase on next week’s charts, which could reflect additional interest generated by theatrical sing-along screenings of “KPop Demon Hunters” that took the Netflix movie to No. 1 at the box office this past weekend.
(Looking at the Spotify charts, there’s certainly no slowdown in sight; the soundtrack currently occupies the top seven slots on the daily U.S. chart.)
The No. 2 song continues to be Warren’s “Ordinary.” That position for the former charttopper was bolstered by the ballad holding steady at radio with 73.8 million audience impressions, more than four times as many as “Golden” picked up for the week.
Repeating in the No. 3 spot is Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want,” featuring Tate McRae. Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not” drops one position to No. 6. Teddy Swims’ perennial “Lose Control” holds on again at No. 7. Justin Bieber’s “Daisies” and Wallen’s “Just in Case” are at Nos. 8-9 on the Hot 100.
On the Billboard 200 albums chart, Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” is No. 1 for a 12th non-consecutive week.
That’s a blockbuster that even “KPop Demon Hunters” has a problem hunting down, for all of its hit. The soundtrack remains at No. 2, where it has spent five non-consecutive weeks. How close are they? Wallen’s album had 121,000 equivalent album units for the week, while “KPop” had 108,000.
The highest-debuting album is Conan Gray’s “Wishbone” at No. 3, his best achievement on the chart to date.
The other big action on the album chart came from two 2024 albums experiencing big boosts. Billie Eilish’s “Hit Me Hard and Soft” reentered the top 10 of the Billboard 200 at No. 6 due to a one-year anniversary special vinyl edition hitting the market. Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” jumped eight spots to No. 10, presumably just on the strength of news about a follow-up album being on the way.
