KPOP DEMON HUNTERS Took Over Netflix With Nearly 500 Million Views in 2025
If the fifth season of Stranger Things taught us anything, it’s that Netflix isn’t always going to land a win with every massive swing it takes. Even with unlimited resources and global reach, pleasing everyone isn’t guaranteed.
But one project has completely broken through that noise. KPop Demon Hunters turned into an animated juggernaut, pulling in viewership numbers that straight-up eclipsed Netflix’s biggest live-action hits from last year.
According to a new breakdown from The Wrap, the animated film exploded after debuting on June 20. The outlet reports that it “tallied up a whopping 481.6 million views during the second half of 2025, standing as the most-watched title across film and TV during the six-month period.”
That puts it well ahead of Wednesday Season 2, which landed at “the most-watched TV show during the second half of 2025 with 123.9 million views,” and Stranger Things Season 5, “which took the No. 2 spot on the TV side with 93.5 million views.”
Those numbers are wild on their own, but there’s a bit of extra context worth noting. The trade points out that the Stranger Things totals don’t factor in “residual viewing” from the series finale, which dropped on New Year’s Eve and almost certainly pulled in a fresh wave of viewers at the start of 2026.
Even with that caveat, the scale of KPop Demon Hunters is hard to wrap your head around. An hour-and-40-minute animated movie outperforming Netflix’s flagship series by that much is a massive deal.
With that kind of momentum, it’s not surprising that the film is going to make a big splash during awards season. The movie was just nominated for Best Animated Film and Best Song at the Academy Awards.
Netflix clearly isn’t hurting for wins right now. The streamer has now surpassed 325 million subscribers as of the final quarter of 2025, and odds are good that a huge chunk of that audience checked out KPop Demon Hunters at least once.
The company is also gearing up to spend $20 billion on original content this year, up from $18 billion last year, while continuing to grow its licensed library. All of this is happening as its deal with Warner Bros. holds steady despite ongoing interference from Paramount.
At this point, KPop Demon Hunters is a reminder that animation, music, and the right concept can still cut through everything else on streaming and absolutely dominate the conversation.