The Netflix animated hit “KPop Demon Hunters” led a year of Korean culture expanding its presence on the global stage. Photo courtesy of Netflix
In 2025, the Korean culture strengthened its global footprint, expanding beyond K-pop and TV dramas into musicals and traditional arts.
The year’s defining sensation was Netflix’s animated film “KPop Demon Hunters”, which blended K-pop dynamism and Korean shamanistic tradition into storytelling centered on embracing one’s whole identity.
The film became the most-watched title in Netflix’s history across both film and television categories, surpassing the monumental success of “Squid Game.”
Directed by Korean Canadian filmmaker Maggie Kang, the U.S. production follows Huntr/x, a fictional girl group that battles evil spirits using the power of music.
The movie’s influence extended well beyond streaming charts. The National Museum of Korea has welcomed more than 6 million visitors this year, its highest annual total since opening 80 years ago, while sales of its official merge line, “Mu:ds”, surged on the back of the film’s popularity.
Foreign arrivals to South Korea also rebounded to record levels with 15.82 million visitors between January and October, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. The tally marks a 15.2 percent rise from a year earlier and an 8.4 percent increase from 2019, the last peak year before the pandemic.
The film’s original soundtrack produced one of the year’s biggest hits. “Golden,” performed by Korean American artists Ejae, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for eight non-consecutive weeks and led the British Official Singles Chart Top 100 for 10 non-consecutive weeks. It marked a new milestone for K-pop-linked music, blending Western pop sensibilities with familiar Korean melodic patterns and partially Korean lyrics.
Its chart performance was widely viewed as evidence of K-pop’s growing footprint on the global stage, with several key industry figures involved in its creation. Teddy and 24, prominent producers at The Black Label, took part as co-producers, while Ejae — who co-wrote and performed the track — previously trained at South Korea’s powerhouse label SM Entertainment.
K-pop’s global profile climbed in tandem, with artists from the genre earning their first-ever nominations in the Grammy Awards’ four main “general field” categories.
BLACKPINK member Rose secured three nominations for her solo single “APT.”, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year. A collaboration with global pop icon Bruno Mars, the song will also compete for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance.
The track, which pairs bright pop harmonies with a looping refrain inspired by a popular Korean drinking game known as the “apartment game,” logged a 45-week run on the Billboard Hot 100, the longest ever for a K-pop track, and peaked at No. 3. Rose’s global profile also soared with the hit, earning her two awards at the 2025 MTV Video Music Awards in September, including Song of the Year.
At the Grammys, the soundtrack for “KPop Demon Hunters” also picked up five nominations, including Song of the Year for “Golden.”
Hybe’s U.S.-based girl group Katseye was nominated for Best New Artist and Best Pop Duo/Group Performance, marking the first time a localized group trained under the K-pop system has been shortlisted for a major Grammy award.
Korean culture also left its mark on Broadway, where “Maybe Happy Ending” won Best Musical at the Tony Awards, becoming the first original Korean production to take the top honor.
It also earned awards for Best Direction, Best Book, Best Original Score, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role and Best Scenic Design out of its 10 nominations at the 78th annual awards ceremony in New York in June.
Written by Park Chun-hue (Hue Park) and composed by Will Aronson, the musical centers on two obsolete helper-bots living in near-future Seoul, who develop an unlikely connection as they explore the possibilities of their existence.
Koreans’ enthusiasm for traditional culture has also deepened, extending beyond pop culture.
The Gyeongju National Museum has extended a special exhibition of six gold crowns from the ancient Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-A.D. 935) to February from an original end date of Dec. 14 after it drew unprecedented public demand. Visitors queued before dawn for days to view the ornate royal crowns at the museum in Gyeongju, about 275 kilometers southeast of Seoul.
The six crowns, normally held in separate museums around the country, were brought together for the first time in more than a century. The exhibition was organized for delegates attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the city and to mark the museum’s 80th anniversary.
Recognizing the growing global influence of Korean culture, the South Korean government in October launched the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exchange. Park Jin-young, chief creative officer and founder of JYP Entertainment, was named as the committee’s inaugural co-chair. His selection has fueled expectations that the body will prioritize expanding Korea’s cultural footprint as an economic engine and strengthening international cultural exchanges.
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