EJAE Named Most-Streamed K-Pop Artist in the U.S. in 2025 With 2.1 Billion Plays — Stray Kids 3rd, BTS 10th

Photo: AP/Newsis

EJAE Tops Luminate's 2025 U.S. K-Pop On-Demand Streaming Ranking With 2.1 Billion Plays

According to data published by Luminate, the U.S. music and entertainment analytics company, on March 9, 2026, Korean-American songwriter and vocalist EJAE recorded approximately 2.1 billion combined on-demand audio and video streams in the United States during 2025, making her the most-streamed K-pop artist in the country for the year. On-demand streams measure instances where users actively select and play a specific song or video on platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Amazon Music, distinguishing this metric from passive or algorithmic plays. EJAE's total combines streams from her contributions to the Netflix animated film "KPop Demon Hunters" soundtrack — including the singing voice for the fictional character Rumi of the virtual girl group HUNTR/X — as well as her solo releases.

The "KPop Demon Hunters" Effect: Eight of the Top 10 Tied to a Single Animated Film

The most notable pattern in the Luminate ranking is that eight of the top 10 most-streamed K-pop acts in the U.S. were directly connected to "KPop Demon Hunters." HUNTR/X, the fictional girl group from the film, ranked 2nd with 1.8 billion streams. The remaining positions were occupied by Andrew Choi (4th), Saja Boys — the film's fictional boy group (5th), Kevin Woo (6th), samUIL Lee (7th), Danny Chung (8th), and Neckwav (9th), all of whom contributed to the soundtrack. The common factor across these entries was a disproportionately high share of video on-demand streams, reflecting how audiences discovered the music through the animated film's visual content on YouTube and Netflix rather than through traditional audio streaming pathways.

In my assessment, this pattern represents what the U.S. industry has described as a "transmedia" success — where engagement with visual media (animation, in this case) converts directly into measurable music consumption. The ranking effectively demonstrates that "KPop Demon Hunters" functioned as a music discovery engine for K-pop in the American market during 2025, introducing Korean-language and K-pop-adjacent songs to audiences who may not have sought them out through conventional streaming behavior.

Stray Kids Rank 3rd With 1.2 Billion Streams — Highest Among Traditional K-Pop Idol Groups

Stray Kids recorded 1.2 billion on-demand streams in the U.S. during 2025, placing them 3rd overall and making them the highest-ranked traditional K-pop idol group on the list. Unlike the "KPop Demon Hunters"-affiliated entries, Stray Kids' streams were generated through conventional music releases and promotional activities, including their album cycle for "KARMA" and "ATE" as well as their Japanese releases. Their 1.2 billion figure is consistent with the group's broader commercial trajectory: "KARMA" ranked No. 2 on the IFPI Global Album Sales Chart for 2025, and the group recently won four trophies at the 40th Japan Gold Disc Awards.

BTS placed 10th with approximately 892 million streams (reported variously as 890 million and 892.3 million across sources), a figure achieved entirely without new group releases during 2025, as members were completing or had recently completed their mandatory military service. The group's sustained streaming volume during a period of complete activity hiatus reflects the depth of their existing catalog's listener base in the U.S. market. BTS has since announced a full-group comeback with their 5th studio album "Arirang" and a 2026-2027 world tour.

Interpreting the Ranking: What Luminate's Data Reveals About K-Pop's U.S. Streaming Structure

The dominance of "KPop Demon Hunters"-related acts in the top 10 means this ranking should not be read as a straightforward popularity index of K-pop idol groups. Rather, it reflects the combined impact of a single cross-media phenomenon on streaming metrics that aggregate audio and video plays. If "KPop Demon Hunters" entries were excluded, the traditional K-pop idol ranking would place Stray Kids 1st and BTS 2nd, which aligns more closely with other year-end charts such as Spotify's global K-pop rankings and the Billboard K-Pop Artist 100.

In my assessment, the Luminate data highlights two parallel realities in K-pop's U.S. market presence. The first is the established idol ecosystem, where groups like Stray Kids and BTS generate billions of streams through album releases, fan-driven listening, and touring. The second is the emerging transmedia pipeline, where animated or scripted content introduces K-pop music to mainstream U.S. audiences at a scale that can exceed traditional idol group numbers. The fact that EJAE's 2.1 billion streams surpassed Stray Kids' 1.2 billion is less a statement about relative popularity and more a demonstration of how visual media multiplies music consumption metrics. Whether this transmedia model is replicable or represents a one-time cultural event around "KPop Demon Hunters" remains an open question for the industry.