‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Ends Historic Netflix High 10 Run: How It Grew to become the Streamer’s Largest Ever Hit

The world modified 91 days in the past when KPop Demon Hunters launched on Netflix, sparking a cultural phenomenon not like something we’ve seen in years. It’s uncommon for a film to seize the zeitgeist so fully and universally. It’s world too, with the movie taking part in on limitless repeat in houses worldwide and the soundtrack dominating the summer time.

That is Netflix’s first time, the popping of their mega hit cherry. Sure, they’ve had profitable TV sequence earlier than and generated income via merchandise and experiences. KPop Demon Hunters represents one thing fully totally different, although, a phenomenon-level IP with real franchise potential.

As KPDH reaches its 91-day milestone (which formally ended on September nineteenth, 2025), Netflix’s key benchmark for its “all-time” rankings, it now sits at 325,100,000 views (541,800,000 hours).

Like all animated movie, KPop Demon Hunters has been years within the making. 7 years actually. Creator and director Maggie Kang envisioned a story deeply rooted in Korean culture, with demonology offering a putting visible that centered on highly effective feminine characters. When co-director Chris Appelhans joined the undertaking, they developed the imaginative and prescient additional, and the pivotal choice was made to weave music into the story’s core narrative drive.

Sony announced the movie in March 2021. It might go straight to Netflix. With the world nonetheless deep within the COVID pandemic, all studios have been scrambling to maintain operations afloat. Sony was on a roll of constructing offers with Netflix for his or her animated tasks, having offered The Mitchells vs. the Machines, Vivo, and Want Dragon simply months earlier. A smart choice at that time limit, however as we’d come to search out out, within the face of the movie’s success, Sony acquired a bum deal. As reported by Puck News, they walked away with simply $20M above manufacturing prices.

Netflix walked away with gold of their pocket, although it’s not tremendous clear that they realized that. KPop Demon Hunters was by no means emphasised by Ted Sarandos in earnings calls. It didn’t get any observable star remedy in pre-awareness via PR or social media. In Your Goals, coming this November, has been the one animated movie highlighted by Netflix for the reason that begin of the 12 months. KPop Demon Hunters quietly dropped a trailer on YouTube round a month earlier than launch. So we’re going to inform the story of this IP’s debut. We’ll take a look at it play-by-play, week by week on how KPop Demon Hunters took over the world.  

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Week 1 (June twentieth to June twenty sixth):  

• KPop Demon Hunters launches on Netflix on Friday, June twentieth, 2025, with a restricted theatrical launch.
• Maggie Kang tears up as she watches her movie hit Netflix reside at midnight.  
• KPDH enters Trending High 10s in all key markets.  
• Over the weekend, music and lyric movies hit YouTube channels for Netflix and Sony, respectively.  
• The movie would be the #1 or #2 trending film within the US all week.   
• International engagement for its opening weekend is 9.2M Views, according to 2nd-tier Netflix animated motion pictures akin to Orion and the Darkish or The Monkey King.    

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Week 2 (June twenty seventh to July third)

• RottenTomatoes rating rises to 97% primarily based on 33 opinions.
• TikTok curiosity for KPop Demon Hunters surges; the motion has began.  
• In its first full week on Netflix world engagement for KPop Demon Hunters is up over 250% to 24.2M Views. This beats the primary full week outing for Leo, on the time Netflix’s greatest animated film to this point, which had 23.6M Views.  
• The movie’s soundtrack enters the Billboard 200 at No. 8, the highest soundtrack debut of 2025.

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Week 3 (July 4th to July tenth)

• KPDH softens barely, right down to 22.7M Views. Is the brilliant mild in descent?  We don’t understand it but however the reply isn’t any.   
• Songs from the film start charting on Billboard International 200 — “Soda Pop” by Saja Boys enters Top 10.
• Maggie Kang, Ian Eisendrath, and Chris Appelhans host a Q&A on r/kpop, the principle Okay-Pop subreddit with over 3.5 million members.
• Curiosity on TikTok peaks at its highest for the principle hashtag.

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Week 4 (July eleventh to July seventeenth)

• KPDH is again as much as 24.2M views, breaking the usual front-loaded Netflix film efficiency sample.  
• “Golden” by Huntr/x hit No. 1 on the Billboard International Charts

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Week 5 (July 18th to July twenty fourth)

• KPop Demon Hunters is up once more to 25.8M Views and surpasses Leo to change into the most-watched animated film on Netflix of all time

• Within the US, the film scores over a billion weekly minutes seen per Nielsen Streaming Content material Scores 
• “Golden” hits No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100, starting a multiple-week run on the high.

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Week 6 (July twenty fifth to July thirty first)

• KPop Demon Hunters joins Netflix’s all-time most-watched record. What’s on Netflix fashions that the film is more likely to change into the most-watched on the streamer of all time. Maggie Kang desires:

• Reporting from TheWrap factors to a big growth of the KPop Demon Hunters franchise, together with two sequel motion pictures.
• KPop Demon Hunters content material will drive month-to-month YouTube views for the Netflix Household up by practically 300% and Sony Photos Animation up by 4800%!

• The soundtrack rises into the High 3 albums on the Billboard 200.

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Week 7 (August 1st to August seventh)

• Cumulative views attain 158.8M, KPDH rises to #4 in Netflix’s All-Time English movies
• Billboard highlights KPDH as each a charting movie & charting album phenomenon.
• KPDH has a drone present in Chicago on the main music pageant Lollapalooza as TWICE performs the music ‘Takedown’ throughout their set.

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Week 8 (August eighth to August 14th)

• Netflix declares that KPop Demon Hunters goes to cinemas for a particular “Sing-Along Event”
• The streamer launches devoted Instagram and TikTok pages
• Sizzling Matter declares merch
• Getting into peak zeitgeist, an Trustworthy Trailer for the film drops on YouTube.

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Week 9 (August fifteenth to August twenty first)

• KPDH has a 3rd week the place it hits over 1 billion minutes on Nielsen (Week 6, 1,027; Week 7, 1,102; Week 9, 1,018)
• KPDH turns into the third movie soundtrack in historical past to have three Billboard High 10 hits in the identical week, becoming a member of Ready To Exhale (1995) and Saturday Evening Fever (1977).
• Leisure Weekly publishes an interview with director Maggie Kang, teasing the opportunity of a sequel that may flesh out the backstory.
• Nongshim x KPop Demon Hunters noodles collaboration introduced.

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Week 10 (August twenty second to August twenty eighth)

• The sing-along film drops in cinemas throughout the US, UK, Australia, Canada, and past.
• The Empire State Constructing lights up gold to have a good time the “Golden Weekend”
• It earns the coveted Licensed Contemporary Rotten Tomatoes badge with a 95% rating.
• With sell-out screenings, Netflix nets an estimated $20M upside in US field workplace receipts alone.  
• On streaming, the film overtakes Crimson Discover to change into the largest “all-time” Netflix movie.  

• A supply tells The Hollywood Reporter, “children are watching Demon Hunters many times, or six to eight instances on common (for some, it’s extra).”

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Week 11 (August twenty ninth to September 4th)

• After the particular cinema launch weekend, the sing-along model drops on Netflix, and KPDH has its greatest particular person week of engagement up to now. Up 18% to 30M views. Netflix mixed each rankings.
• The movie overtakes Squid Sport because the most-watched Netflix title in historical past
• Funko Pop releases a KPDH collaboration out there for pre-order.
• Novak Djokovic does the “Soda Pop” dance as a part of his celebration for profitable the U.S. Open

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Week 12 (September fifth to September eleventh)

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Week 13 (September twelfth to September 18th)

• Jimmy Fallon sings “Golden” for a lip sync battle on The Tonight Present

• KPop Demon Hunters surpasses 300M views, the primary film to do that on Netflix’s all-time 91-day benchmark

• Cumulative streams of the soundtrack cross 1B Spotify performs; Billboard notes ongoing dominance of “Golden”.
• Information breaks {that a} new brief animated movie, Debut: A KPOP Demon Hunters Story, is more likely to hit Netflix imminently.

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Week 14 (September nineteenth to September twenty fifth)

• Official costumes introduced by US Halloween retailer, Spirit.   
• Remaining all-time numbers: 

Week in High 10	Week Interval	Hours Watched	Views / CVE	Weekly Rank
1	Jun 15 to Jun 22, 2025	15,400,000	9,200,000	2
2	Jun 22 to Jun 29, 2025	40,300,000 (+162%)	24,200,000	1
3	Jun 29 to Jul 6, 2025	37,800,000 (-6%)	22,700,000	2
4	Jul 6 to Jul 13, 2025	40,400,000 (+7%)	24,200,000	1
5	Jul 13 to Jul 20, 2025	43,000,000 (+6%)	25,800,000	1
6	Jul 20 to Jul 27, 2025	43,900,000 (+2%)	26,300,000	2
7	Jul 27 to Aug 3, 2025	43,800,000 (-0%)	26,300,000	2
8	Aug 3 to Aug 10, 2025	43,100,000 (-2%)	25,900,000	2
9	Aug 10 to Aug 17, 2025	43,300,000 (+0%)	26,000,000	1
10	Aug 17 to Aug 24, 2025	42,400,000 (-2%)	25,400,000	1
11	Aug 24 to Aug 31, 2025	50,200,000 (+18%)	30,100,000	1
12	Aug 31 to Sep 7, 2025	42,400,000 (-16%)	25,400,000	2
13	Sep 7 to Sep 14, 2025	37,700,000 (-11%)	22,600,000	1
14	Sep 15 to Sep 21, 2025	35,400,000	21,200,000	2

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So what can we study from all this? KPop Demon Hunters is lightning in a bottle, however as I outlined in a latest e-newsletter, lightning in a bottle can’t be your business plan. And actually, there’s nothing to study from Netflix’s pre-awareness technique for this movie—their efforts have been both just about non-existent or fully ineffective.

What we CAN study from is how Netflix responded to the surprising success. They moved with outstanding velocity. The sing-along model hit cinemas inside simply 10 weeks, regardless of well-known inside resistance to theatrical releases. They aggressively pursued new merchandise licenses wherever attainable, strategically chasing buzz in numerous classes like ramen and Halloween merchandise. Content material manufacturing additionally pivoted rapidly; the brand new brief movie was possible pulled from current footage and rushed into manufacturing. This momentum illustrates that Netflix nonetheless has the muscle reminiscence of being a disruptor. Choice-making actually hasn’t regressed into the bureaucratic buildings which may hamper a legacy company media enterprise.

Past this, one may argue that the film performed to one among Netflix’s greatest strengths: its potential to create distinctive content material that appeals to households with out being explicitly designed for kids. They’ve a confirmed observe report right here. Exhibits like Stranger Issues, Emily in Paris, and Wednesday don’t speak right down to youthful viewers—they’re high-quality productions that naturally entice all age teams. KPDH follows this similar profitable components.

In an period of franchise fatigue and sequel saturation, KPDH proves that authentic tales can nonetheless seize the world’s creativeness. Netflix could have stumbled into this success, however its swift response exhibits they haven’t misplaced its disruptor instincts. The true check now could be whether or not they can rework this lightning strike into sustainable franchise success as a result of, in streaming wars, capitalizing on real cultural lightning strikes turns into the final word differentiator. With that in thoughts, the subsequent 91 days will likely be simply as telling as the primary.  

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Emily Horgan is a children’ media analyst and creator of the Netflix Kids Content Performance Report (a brand new model is now out there). She can also be a daily collaborator and contributor to What’s on Netflix. In her spare time, she writes The Kids StreamerSphere newsletter on Substack.