KPop Demon Hunters’ Huntrix Takes New Year’s Rockin’ Eve Stage After Chart-Topping Run With “Golden”
Huntrix — the fictional K-pop girl trio from Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters — brought 2025 to a close in “Golden” fashion with a performance of their breakout hit at Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve With Ryan Seacrest in Times Square. The appearance crowned an already extraordinary year for the group’s anthem, which became a global chart juggernaut and one of the unlikely cultural phenomena of the year.
Originally featured in the 2025 animated musical fantasy KPop Demon Hunters, “Golden” was released as a single on July 4, 2025, after the soundtrack’s runaway success. The track, performed by singers Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami as the voices behind Huntrix, topped the Billboard Global 200 and Billboard Global Excl. U.S. charts, and reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, a historic breakthrough for both a fictional act and a K-pop female group.
That chart success, which included an extended run atop global charts and multiple Hot 100 entries from the KPop Demon Hunters soundtrack, helped push “Golden” into year-end ubiquity, setting the stage for the trio’s live showcase on one of television’s most-watched New Year’s Eve broadcasts. Their Times Square performance, shared widely across social platforms, blended high production visuals with choreography and vocal power that mirrored the energy that drove the song’s meteoric rise.
Behind the hit is a distinctive story: KPop Demon Hunters combines animated storytelling with K-pop spectacle, and its soundtrack has challenged the mainstream music industry’s expectations of cross-media crossover. Songs like “Golden,” “How It’s Done” and others charted not just in the U.S. but internationally, with multiple tracks from the OST entering the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously — a rare feat for any soundtrack.
New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, broadcast annually and anchored by Ryan Seacrest, is one of television’s marquee year-end events, drawing millions of viewers for performances and countdowns across global music stars. Huntrix’s appearance here positions them alongside major pop acts as 2026 begins.