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A Victory for ‘Golden’ Gives K-Pop Its First Ever Grammy Win
The breakout song from “KPop Demon Hunters” won best song written for visual media on Sunday, ending a drought for the powerhouse global genre.
From left: Audrey Nuna, Ejae and Rei Ami, the singing voices of Huntr/x from “KPop Demon Hunters.”Credit...Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Feb. 1, 2026, 4:11 p.m. ET
“KPop Demon Hunters” was one of 2025’s most powerful pieces of global culture and the most-watched film in Netflix’s history. And now it has earned a record: K-pop’s first ever Grammy Award.
“Golden,” the breakout smash from the movie, won best song written for visual media at the Grammy Awards pre-telecast ceremo…
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A Victory for ‘Golden’ Gives K-Pop Its First Ever Grammy Win
The breakout song from “KPop Demon Hunters” won best song written for visual media on Sunday, ending a drought for the powerhouse global genre.
From left: Audrey Nuna, Ejae and Rei Ami, the singing voices of Huntr/x from “KPop Demon Hunters.”Credit...Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Feb. 1, 2026, 4:11 p.m. ET
“KPop Demon Hunters” was one of 2025’s most powerful pieces of global culture and the most-watched film in Netflix’s history. And now it has earned a record: K-pop’s first ever Grammy Award.
“Golden,” the breakout smash from the movie, won best song written for visual media at the Grammy Awards pre-telecast ceremony in Los Angeles on Sunday. The song — a self-empowerment anthem led by Ejae in character as a singer in the girl group Huntr/x, topped the Hot 100 for eight weeks in 2025. The track received four nominations for the 68th annual event, including song of the year and best pop/duo performance; David Guetta also received a nod for a “Golden” remix, and the LP the original song appears on is up for best compilation soundtrack for visual media.
“Golden” still has a shot at winning song of the year, which would be the first time a K-pop track took one of the awards’ top categories. Its writers include Ejae, Park Hong Jun, Joong Gyu Kwak, Yu Han Lee, Hee Dong Nam, Jeong Hoon Seo and Mark Sonnenblick. In November, Rosé, a member of the girl group Blackpink, became the first K-pop artist nominated in any of the awards’ biggest all-genre categories as the main performer; “Apt.,” her collaboration with Bruno Mars, is up for both record and song of the year. (BTS previously earned a nod for album of the year as part of Coldplay’s “Music of the Spheres.”)
Kateseye, a girl group that was created in collaboration with Hybe, one of K-pop’s most powerful companies, is up for best new artist, though its music is not specifically K-pop and its members hail from several countries.
K-pop hasn’t had a lot of representation at the Grammys in the past. BTS has five previous nominations (three of them came in best pop/duo performance), but no wins.
Last August, the Recording Academy announced that a group of artists, producers and songwriters who have made significant contributions to K-pop had joined the organization’s voting body, including Supreme Boi, Wonderkid, Bumzu, Slow Rabbit, Huh Yunjin, Jungwon, Yeonjun, Zico, Woozi and Vernon.
“Golden” also received a 2026 Oscar nomination for best original song; in January, it won that same category at the Golden Globes.
Caryn Ganz is The Times’s pop music editor.
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