TIME Magazine hails 'KPop Demon Hunters' as 2025 Breakthrough of the Year
It's a golden year for Kpop Demon Hunters, as it was named TIME Magazine's 2025 Breakthrough of the Year.
TIME unveiled on Tuesday, Dec. 9, the special cover photo of the animated movie, featuring the main characters Rumi, Zoey, and Mira.
The publication noted that no animated film has seeped into popular culture this deeply since Frozen captivated viewers back in 2013.
Kpop Demon Hunters tells the story of a K-pop girl group—Rumi, Zoey, and Mira—who are secretly on a mission to save the world from evil forces. They went up against Saja Boys, a boy group made of demons.
It became the most-watched original title in Netflix history. It has achieved over 325 million cumulative views just within three months of its release.
"The movie’s appeal seems self-evident in retrospect: cool girls in sick costumes, singing full-throated anthems about self-acceptance that also happen to be instant earworms, matched by inventive, vibrant visuals," TIME wrote.
"In the 10 years since Netflix began releasing original films, not one has been as watched as much as Demon Hunters," it added. "Its soundtrack reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and has been streamed 8.3 billion times. Breakout hit Golden spent 17 weeks atop the Billboard Global 200 chart."
TIME further noted how the film was well-received globally, even by celebrities like Andy Samberg and Kelly Clarkson, popular video game Fortnite, which added Demon Hunters as "skins" for their characters, and fans who opted to dress up inspired by the characters of the animated film.
For their part, the voices behind the beloved characters reflected on the film's success. Ji-young Yoo—Zoey’s speaking voice said the buzz in Korea has been “mind-blowing.”
“Whenever I step outside, some store or restaurant is blasting a KPop Demon Hunters track. I saw two guys running along the Han River to Takedown. There are collaborations with everything from bakeries to ramen shops. Every time it feels like the hype has peaked, it somehow levels up again.”
Ejae, Rumi's singing voice, delved into how the movie's message resonated with Korean audiences.
“I was a K-pop trainee since I was 11,” Ejae told TIME. “It’s a very perfectionist country. That can be mentally exhausting. Always having to look perfect, have good grades. You have to be pretty, you have to be skinny. This movie says it’s OK to not be perfect because not perfect is absolutely beautiful.
This was echoed by Audrey Nuna, who was the singing voice of Mira.
“As a woman of color growing up in the States, you are fed this idea that you need to be a certain way or fit in a certain role,” she says. “My whole life and artistry has been dedicated to a rebellion of this idea.”
Rei Ami, Zoey's singing voice, said, “Zoey is very high energy and excitable. Those are the very traits I was told to suppress growing up. The stereotypes associated with Asian women are that we are submissive, docile. All my life I’ve been told, ‘You’re too much.’ That too-muchness gave me a platinum record.”
"KPop Demon Hunters’ influence will likely be felt in the broader entertainment industry as well. In a risk-averse Hollywood, like begets like—one big-budget female-oriented action movie that rules the box office proves it’s safe to bet on another. In this case, that is good news for everything from original animation, at least on streaming, to first-time directors like [Maggie] Kang," TIME added.
Kpop Demon Hunters was recently recognized by different bodies, including bagging Music Visionary of the Year award at the 2025 MAMA, and earned three Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year, and another three Golden Globe nominations.
