Billboard’s Top Song is by an Artist That Does Not Really Exist

The Billboard Hot 100 has a new top song, and you’d be forgiven if you’d never previously heard of the artist – because that artist does not really exist.

On Monday afternoon, Billboard officially announced that the hit song “Golden” by the K-pop group HUNTR/X had officially topped “Ordinary” by Alex Warren to become the hottest song in the world.

But the thing is, HUNTR/X is not technically a real K-pop group.

“Golden” Takes the Top Spot

Warren’s “Ordinary” had previously held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine non-consecutive weeks beginning back in June, but it has now been dethroned by “Golden” after the song got some impressive streaming numbers.

According to Billboard, the song tallied 31.7 million official streams to make it the most-streamed song of the week, 8.4 million radio airplay audience impressions, and 7,000 sold in the United States Aug. 1-7.

“Golden” is the eighth song associated with Korean pop to top the Billboard Hot 100 charts and the first by female vocalists. It joins “Like Crazy” by Jimin of BTS in 2023, and BTS’ six No. 1s in 2020-21: “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat),” “Dynamite,” “Life Goes On,” “Butter,” “Permission to Dance,” and “My Universe.”

Who is HUNTR/X?

As previously mentioned, HUNTR/X is not technically a real artist – it’s a fictional K-pop girl group from the hit Netflix movie KPop Demon Hunters.

In the film, HUNTR/X use their K-pop personas and powers to secretly battle demons, protecting their fans from supernatural threats while also emerging as the biggest and most popular band in the world.

The fictional group is heavily inspired by real-life K-pop groups like 2NE1, BLACKPINK, ITZY, and TWICE.

The Voices Behind HUNTR/X

While the group itself may be fictional, the music and the individual artists behind the characters’ voices are very real.

EJAE, who voices the lead vocalist and primary protagonist Rumi, has over a decade of experience in the music industry. A former SM Entertainment trainee, EJAE is a singer-songwriter and record producer. She is known for her work with Red Velvet, aespa, Twice, Nmixx, Le Sserafim, Kep1er, Billlie, and Kard.

Audrey Nuna voices Mira, the main dancer of the group. She is a Korean-American rapper and R&B singer born and raised in New Jersey who is best known for her singles “Damn Right” and “Comic Sans” (featuring Jack Harlow).

REI AMI is the voice of Zoey, the rapper and lyricist of HUNTR/X. She is an American voice actress, singer-songwriter, and rapper from Seoul, South Korea who rose to prominence with the song “Freak”, with Sub Urban in 2020, which gained virality on TikTok.

The Impact of “Golden”

While “Golden” may be a song written for the movie, it had some very real inspirations and means a lot to EJAE, especially after all the work she put in to try to break into the music industry.

“‘Golden’ is a song that I put all my experience into, what I wanted to hear when I was training, because it’s not an easy industry,” she told Billboard. “It’s very competitive. Being perfect is such a big thing while training. So that part, feeling so broken inside, me not aligning and getting dropped, was part of it too. I brought that heartbreak I felt into the lyrics and when I’m singing.”

Clearly, the inspirational anthem has resonated with the masses, too.

Listen to “Golden”

You can listen to the full song here to stay up to date on the hottest music on the planet:

Billboard’s Top Song is by an Artist That Does Not Really Exist first appeared on Men’s Journal on Aug 11, 2025