Superstar septet BTS have some unlikely competition.
The K-pop powerhouse, composed of members Jin, Suga, j-hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook, just had one of their more substantial records overthrown by boy band the Saja Boys.
The catch? The Saja Boys are a completely fictional group.
Voiced by Ahn Hyo-seop, Joel Kim Booster, Alan Lee, and SungWon Cho—with vocal performances from Andrew Choi, Samuil Lee, Kevin Woo, Neckwav, and Danny Chung—the Saja Boys are an animated fictional boy band from the new Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters.
Released on June 20, the animated flick follows the secret life of a world-famous K-pop girl group, Huntr/x, who balance being international stars by day and demon hunters by night.
Since its release last month, KPop Demon Hunters has swiftly become a viral hit with a fierce online fanbase, which has been reflected in its performance on both viewing and music streaming charts.
The Saja Boys, the film’s villainous demons who cosplay as a K-pop boy group to lure in souls (and hearts), have found particular success on music streaming charts, taking the crown from BTS to become the highest-charting K-pop boy band in U.S. Spotify history.
The group’s song “Your Idol” hit a peak of No. 2 on the U.S. Spotify chart Thursday, surpassing BTS’s Grammy-nominated single “Dynamite” which peaked at No. 3 in 2020.
KPop Demon Hunters has become a global hit for the streamer. The film has reached Netflix’s top 10 in 93 countries and has topped the list in 33 of those countries.
The film’s fictional girl group, Huntr/x, are similarly charting on U.S. Spotify, peaking at No. 3 with their track “Golden.” The milestone ties them with another K-pop powerhouse, Blackpink, for the U.S. K-pop girl-group record.
KPop Demon Hunters’ overall soundtrack also entered the Billboard 200 at No. 8 this week, making it the highest-debuting soundtrack of the year.
Though BTS’s crown may have been tilted (for now), the septet have recently reunited following the completion of their mandatory military enlistment in South Korea and are slated to make their highly anticipated comeback next spring.
The post A Fictional K-Pop Group Just Bested the World’s Biggest Boy Band appeared first on The Daily Beast.
