KPop Demon Hunters: This week, seven of the Top 10 songs on Spotify in America are from this movie, which has now been out for two months. It’s also Netflix’s most-watched original film, with 236 million views since its June 20 release. “Golden” is the true standout single, having been #1 almost the entire time and so far reaching #11 on Top 40. It is also No.1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 this week. It is truly one of 2025’s five biggest songs… but with what demographic?
K-Pop fans are a very dedicated, loyal and passionate group of people who make up a small piece of the pie. I can honestly say with total truth and no bias, that we have never had a single request for any KPop Dem, on Hunters song from or on behalf of a person over the age of 13. As for the Spotify streams? Those can be credited to kids listening to it over and over again, parents playing it for them, and the Kpop loyalists/fan clubs who work hard to make the song big. It’s the same group of people who call, text, message and post to another Top 40 syndicated show that claims it’s the “number one request from millions of people.”
We’ve had adults call for the song before. Then we ask, “is that what you wanna hear, or is this for your kid?” or “okay, now what do YOU wanna hear?” and of course they pick a different song. We are family friendly but not made for children. This type of candy music is a major adult tuneout and detrimental to ratings and overall Hit Radio format image.
Justin Bieber – “YUKON”: An expected second single from “SWAG” could be here, as “YUKON” sits in the Spotify Top 50 for a month straight. “DAISIES” is still comfortably in the Top 10, but it wasn’t clear from the getgo which tracks, if any, would become radio hits. Those are the only two tracks by Justin Bieber currently in the Top 200. Right now, “YUKON” is #43 on Top 40 with KMVQ (67x) and KYLD (80x) in San Francisco as its top supporters. KBFF/Portland played it 57 times this week. So far, only three total requests for it on Liveline. Definitely a song to watch though.
Buried Treasures of the Week
Paramore – “Decode”: Another rock throwback with request resurgence on Liveline. In the past three months, we’ve gotten some great calls and stories from people wanting to hear this. It was released in 2008 as part of the Twilight soundtrack, one of the biggest movie series of all time. It was the follow up to Paramore’s “Misery Business”, another classic that still gets lots of requests to this day. It’s completely outside the realm of what Top 40 sounds like now, but that’s because the format has narrowed and now plays very little alternative/rock despite a very clear demand for its old and new songs showing up reliably on streaming (and requests). “back to friends” by sombr has been Top 10 on Spotify for four months, a Top 5 request on Liveline for two months and is widely out-performing the radio hit “undressed” everywhere else. Just this week it finally entered the Pop radio Top 30. What does the format (with most stations now targeting 25-54 year olds) have against Alternative music?
“Decode” was a marginal hit upon release, peaking at #5 on Alternative radio, #36 on Top 40 and #33 on the Billboard Hot 100. Today, it is their fifth most-popular song on Spotify, with 400 million streams. Above it “Still Into You” (#1 with 1.02 billion streams), “Misery Business”, “The Only Exception” and “Hard Times”. Looking back at old request lists for John Garabedian’s Open House Party (which at the time was tabulating 2000+ calls on a Saturday night), it was also a Top 10 request and peaked at #8.
Jesse McCartney – “Beautiful Soul”: In a very alternative and rhythmic era for music, 17 year old McCartney debuted with his solo single after being in the boyband Dream Street from 1999-2002. It became an instant hit with its catchy, cute pop melodies and romantic lyrics. It was just what the format needed. We played it on “Who Sings It?” about a month ago and since then have received half a dozen requests for it. It’s common for a nearly-forgotten song to get even more requests after playing it once or twice from a request or on a contest. We see that more with “Ice Ice Baby” and “Baby Got Back” than anything else. It goes away for a month, then one person asks for it again and suddenly every night after that for two weeks people are asking for it.
(@livelineradio)This story first appeared on radioinsight.com