When HUNTR/X — the animated K‑pop trio from the Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters — saw their song Golden climb to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in September 2023, the music world stopped scrolling. The achievement was historic: an entirely fictional act became the first animated group to claim a No. 1 spot on the chart, sparking a flurry of headlines that treated the group as a real‑world girl band. Behind the glittering avatars were three real singers — EJAE (real name Eunji Kim), REI AMI (real name Rei Ami) and AUDREY NUNA (real name Audrey Nuna). Their voices, not a deep‑fake algorithm, carried the track to two straight weeks at the summit, but the industry’s reaction was anything but straightforward.
Fictional K‑Pop Group HUNTR/X Hits #1 on Billboard Hot 100
