HUNTR/X’s “Golden” goes up, up, up a spot for its first week at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The aspirational song is from the soundtrack to the smash animated Netflix film KPop Demon Hunters and glows as the first Hot 100 leader for the act, whose music is voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna and REI AMI. The set rules Billboard’s Soundtracks chart for a seventh week.
Notably, “Golden” is the eighth song associated with Korean pop to conquer the Hot 100 — and the first by female vocalists. It joins “Like Crazy” by Jimin of BTS in 2023, and BTS’ six No. 1s in 2020-21: “Savage Love (Laxed – Siren Beat),” with Jawsh 685 and Jason Derulo; “Dynamite”; “Life Goes On”; “Butter”; “Permission to Dance”; and “My Universe,” with Coldplay. (HUNTR/X singers EJAE and REI AMI were born in Seoul, South Korea; Nuna is from New Jersey.)
“Golden” is also the first IRL Hot 100 No. 1 by any act with a fictional background since the ensemble No. 1 “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” which reigned for five weeks in February-March 2022. It, too, was released from a hit animated film, Disney’s Encanto, and sung by multiple vocalists as their characters in the movie.
Plus, Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” pulls into the Hot 100 at No. 3, marking her highest debut and rank. The song starts as her fourth top 10.
Browse the full rundown of this week’s top 10 below.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, the lattermost metric reflecting purchases of physical singles and digital tracks from full-service digital music retailers; digital singles sales from direct-to-consumer (D2C) sites are excluded from chart calculations. All charts (dated Aug. 16, 2025) will update on Billboard.com Tuesday, Aug. 12. For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram.
Luminate, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes a thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling the weekly chart rankings. Luminate reviews and authenticates data. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious or unverifiable is removed, using established criteria, before final chart calculations are made and published.
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‘Golden’ Streams, Airplay & Sales
“Golden,” on Visva/Republic Records, tallied 31.7 million official streams (up 9% week-over-week), 8.4 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 71%) and 7,000 sold (up 35%) in the United States Aug. 1-7.
The track slays for a third week at No. 1 on Streaming Songs and rises 5-3 for a new best on Digital Song Sales. It makes history in the former metric, as it’s the Hot 100’s greatest gainer in streaming for a record-breaking sixth straight week. (It surpasses the five weekly wins in a row for Migos’ “Bad and Boujee,” featuring Lil Uzi Vert, in early 2017.) “Golden” debuted at No. 81 on the July 5 chart and began its streak the following week.
Plus, “Golden” is the first non-debuting title to clear 30 million weekly official U.S. streams since Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s “Luther” in late March. (In between, two songs reached the mark in their first chart weeks: Playboi Carti’s “Evil J0rdan” and Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want,” featuring Tate McRae.)
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‘Gold’ Medals
Flying colors: “Golden” is the fourth Hot 100 No. 1 with “gold” or “golden” in its title to shine atop the Hot 100.
Here are all the glittering “gold” records:
- “Golden,” HUNTR/X: EJAE, Audrey Nuna & REI AMI, one week at No. 1 to date, Aug. 16, 2025
- “Gold Digger,” Kanye West feat. Jamie Foxx, 10 weeks, beginning Sept. 17, 2005
- “Sister Golden Hair,” America, one, June 14, 1975
- “Heart of Gold,” Neil Young, one, March 18, 1972
Honorable mentions (silver medals?): 24kGoldn sparkled with “Mood,” featuring iann dior, for eight weeks at No. 1 in 2020-21, and Bobby Goldsboro led with “Honey” for five weeks in 1968.
(While no songs with “silver” in their names have led topped the Hot 100, “Fly, Robin, Fly” by Silver Convention did for three weeks in 1975.)
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‘The Subway’ Arrives at 3
Image Credit: Ryan Lee Clemens Chappell Roan’s “The Subway” rolls into the Hot 100 at No. 3, marking the singer-songwriter’s highest career debut and rank as she earns her fourth top 10. All four have hit the top five: “Good Luck, Babe!” and “Pink Pony Club” each rose to No. 4 last September and this April, respectively, and “The Giver” entered at its No. 5 peak in March.
“The Subway” tallied 25.1 million streams, 787,000 in airplay audience and 6,000 sold in its first full week of tracking (no pun intended), following its July 31 release as a recording. Chappell Roan premiered the song live during her Governors Ball set on June 7, 2024, and built buzz for it by playing it regularly in concert since.
(The song becomes the highest charting Hot 100 hit with “subway” in its title. Petula Clark rode her classic “Don’t Sleep in the Subway” to No. 5 in July 1967.)
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Rest of Top 10: ‘Ordinary’ & More
Alex Warren’s “Ordinary” drops to No. 2 on the Hot 100 after nine nonconsecutive weeks at No. 1 beginning in June. It claims an eighth week at No. 1 on Radio Songs (73.6 million, essentially even) and an 11th week atop the Songs of the Summer chart, having led each week since the survey made its seasonal return after Memorial Day.
Morgan Wallen’s “What I Want,” featuring Tate McRae, dips 3-4 on the Hot 100 after it debuted in May as Wallen’s fourth No. 1 and McRae’s first. It posts a 12th week at No. 1 on the multimetric Hot Country Songs chart.
Justin Bieber’s No. 2-peaking “Daisies” falls 4-5 on the Hot 100, two weeks after it debuted at its No. 2 high. It’s the chart’s top gainer in airplay for a second week (20.9 million, up 23%).
Ravyn Lenae’s “Love Me Not” is steady at its No. 6 Hot 100 best, and Wallen’s “Just in Case” descends 5-7 after reaching No. 2.
Saja Boys, HUNTR/X’s targets in KPop Demon Hunters, climb 9-8 for a new Hot 100 high with “Your Idol.”
Teddy Swims’ “Lose Control,” which led the Hot 100 for a week in March 2024 and closed as the year’s No. 1 song, backtracks 7-9 as it adds a record-extending 103rd week on the chart overall and a record-boosting 73rd week in the top 10.
Rounding out the Hot 100’s top 10, Shaboozey’s “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” stumbles 8-10, following its record-tying 19 weeks at No. 1 beginning in July 2024.
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