'K-Pop Demon Hunters' tops Korea’s YouTube trending charts

Netflix’s animated series "K-Pop Demon Hunters" emerged as the top trending keyword on YouTube Korea in 2025. On December 3, YouTube released its “2025 Year-End Review List,” highlighting the topics, songs, and creators that drew the most attention in South Korea. "K-Pop Demon Hunters" dominated the rankings, leading the charts for most popular topic, top songs, and most popular Shorts.

According to YouTube, other trending topics in 2025 included Netflix dramas "When Life Gives You Tangerines" and "Squid Game." Popular topics were selected based on a combination of factors, including views, uploads, and creator engagement. Only topics that emerged in 2025 or experienced a significant surge in user interest were included.

Notably, both "Squid Game" and "K-Pop Demon Hunters" appeared on top trending lists in most of the surveyed countries, not just in South Korea. YouTube said this reflects the active participation of domestic and international fans in creating and consuming Korean content on its platform.

Other popular topics included games such as "Roblox" and "Mabinogi," as well as idol groups that debuted in 2025, including "All Day Project" and "Hearts to Hearts." Anime-related content, including "Demon Slayer" and "Attack on Titan," also drew significant attention on Korean YouTube this year.

In the category of South Korea’s top songs, which evaluates tracks released in 2025 or those that showed notable performance compared with the previous year, "K-Pop Demon Hunters" stood out. Three of its songs—Golden, Soda Pop, and Your Idol—ranked first, third, and tenth respectively. Soda Pop and Golden also took first and second place on the YouTube Shorts top song list, based on short-form video uploads.

Other artists featured in the top song rankings included G-Dragon, idol group IVE, and BLACKPINK. YouTube noted that five of the 10 songs on the U.S. YouTube top song chart this year were K-pop tracks, including the soundtrack from K-Pop Demon Hunters.

The top creators included mixed martial artist Choo Sung-hoon, comedian Lee Soo-ji, and chef Ahn Sung-jae. The channel "Emotional Anxiety Kim Hamchi," which portrays realistic office life through an AI-generated hamster character, ranked seventh for its ability to resonate with subscribers. Rankings of top creators were based on domestic subscriber growth in 2025 and excluded channels owned by brands, media companies, and children’s content.


박종민 기자 blick@donga.com