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This week: Animated musical KPop Demon Hunters is already well on its way to a streaming takeover, hip-hop duo Bob Vylan sees backlash but also massive streaming gains following a polarizing festival appearance, and everyone’s favorite synch-loaded FX on Hulu drama is back for a fourth season.
The ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Music Is Already Big. It’s About to Be Enormous
On this week’s Billboard 200, the soundtrack to KPop Demon Hunters scored a No. 8 debut — an impressive start for the music to the new Netflix animated musical film, in which the members of a fictional K-pop girl group, Huntr/x, lead double lives as (you guessed it) demon hunters, protecting humanity from evil forces in between elaborate performances. The film draws upon the theatricality of modern K-pop and boasts the singing voices of Ejae, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami on the original Huntr/x songs, in addition to multiple appearances by real-life K-pop stars TWICE on the soundtrack.
KPop Demon Hunters has been a smash for Netflix since its June 20 release, and in addition to the top 10 album bow, a pair of songs from the soundtrack debut on this week’s Billboard Hot 100: “Your Idol,” from Huntr/x’s rival boy band Saja Boys, at No. 77, and the Huntr/x song “Golden” at No. 81. Yet these chart launches look like the quiet beginning of a full-blown cultural phenomenon, as all of the KPop Demon Hunters music is enjoying an uptick in streams during its second week of release.
During its first four days of release (June 20-23), the 12 songs on the soundtrack earned a total of 13.3 million official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate; one week later (June 27-30), that number more than tripled to 42.8 million streams (up 220%), as millions of new viewers watched the film and raced to relive its musical highs. “Golden” and “Your Idol” appear to be the standout songs so far, with the former earning 7 million streams from June 27-30 (up 272% from the same tracking period during the previous week) and the latter earning 6.6 million streams (up 250%).
Yet soundtrack cuts like “What It Sounds Like” and “Free” have also tripled up their streaming totals from their first week of release to their second, and also posted significant increases in song sale totals; the full soundtrack moved 44% more downloads from June 27-30 (over 7,000 copies sold) than it had from June 20-23, and could crack five-digit total song sales in its second week. If KPop Demon Hunters keeps soaring, its soundtrack will likely climb higher than No. 8 on the Billboard 200, while the Hot 100 will almost certainly see extra song debuts from it — and both Huntr/x and Saja Boys could become breakout stars of the summer. – JASON LIPSHUTZ
Bob Vylan Streams Explode Following Highly Controversial Glastonbury Appearance
While all eyes were on polarizing Irish rap group Kneecap at last weekend’s Glastonbury festival in the U.K. following that trio’s explosive pro-Palestine comments — which resulted in major streaming gains for the group, as well as a firestorm of backlash — it was a different hip-hop group whose on-stage remarks made the biggest headlines from Glastonbury last weekend. Bob Vylan, the U.K. punk-rap duo who had an early-afternoon Saturday performance slot, used the platform to send strong messages of solidarity with Palestine (leading “Free Palestine” chants), as well as opposition to the Israel Defense Forces (with “Death to the IDF” chants), and even to the BBC, which was an official festival broadcasting partner.
Bob Vylan — consisting of members using the aliases Bobbie Vylan and Bobby Vylan — also received heavy backlash for its messaging, including from the festival, which denounced the pair’s comments, and from the BBC, which removed the performance from any official on-demand services. The duo has also subsequently been dropped as a client by its UTA representation, and is now facing a police investigation in its home country. (Kneecap, who also made inflammatory comments of its own during the festival — including about U.K. prime minister Keir Stammer — is also being investigated.)
Bobby Vylan, the member who led the controversial chants during the duo’s performance, issued a social media statement on Tuesday (July 1) in response to the backlash. “We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people,” the statement read. “We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use ‘unnecessary lethal force’ against innocent civilians waiting for aid. A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza.”
Amidst the firestorm, the extra exposure has sent Bob Vylan’s streams skyrocketing. On Friday (June 27) — the day before the Glastonbury performance — the duo racked up just 6,000 official on-demand U.S. streams, according to Luminate. Saturday, that number jumped 226% to 18,000, then spiked another 240% to 61,000 on Sunday, and then another 101% to 123,000 on Monday. That Monday total is up a staggering 2,614% from the same day a week earlier. Meanwhile, Kneecap also saw some extra gains, with the trio amassing 285,000 combined streams over Sunday and Monday — an 86% gain over the same period the prior week. — ANDREW UNTERBERGER
‘The Bear’ Season 4 Spurs Gains for Paul Simon, St. Vincent, Eddie Vedder & More
Carmy, Syd and the gang are back in FX’s fourth season of the hit Emmy-winning dramedy, The Bear, which premiered on June 25. In line with past seasons, the latest collection of Bear episodes features a plethora of tasteful rock ‘n’ roll needle drops, courtesy of co-music supervisors Christopher Storer and Josh Senior, who also serve as the series’ showrunner and executive producer, respectively.
In episode three, as the new dinner service process hits its stride and Richie goes above and beyond for a sweet family visiting the restaurant, Dion’s “Only You Know,” a track from his cult favorite 1975 Born to Be With You album, plays in the background. According to Luminate, “Only You Know” is up a whopping 520% in streams following that sync. During the weekend before the new season arrived (June 20-23), Dion’s track pulled just over 5,000 official on-demand U.S. streams; the week after the new season hit streaming (June 27-30), that number hit nearly 34,000 streams.
This season’s fifth episode starts with a stirring four-minute monologue delivered by comedian Kate Berlant’s character during an AA meeting. Soon after, Paul Simon’s “Let Me Live In Your City,” a demo that eventually evolved into 1973’s “Something So Right,” begins to play, emphasizing the scene’s most somber notes. During the period of June 20-23, “Let Me Live” earned just over 2,000 streams. That figure leapt by 1,167% to over 25,000 streams after the series premiere (June 27-30).
Last season, Eddie Vedder recorded a special cover of The Beat’s “Save It for Later” for episode two (and The Beat’s original version later played in the seventh episode). The Pearl Jam vocalist’s version returns in the penultimate episode of the fourth season, playing as Carmy visits his old bedroom. During the weekend before the new season arrived, Vedder’s rendition collected over 68,000 streams; the week after the new season started streaming, that number surpassed over 1000,000 streams, jumping 47%.
The latest season of The Bear closes with St. Vincent’s “Fast Slow Disco,” an uptempo 2018 rework of the previous year’s “Slow Disco,” which appeared on her Grammy-winning Masseduction LP. Notably, “Slow Disco” appeared in the third episode of this season, playing as Sydney prepares a scallop dish. Combined, the two versions of “Slow Disco” earned nearly 31,000 U.S. streams the weekend before the season premiered. By the following weekend, that number more than doubled to over 64,000 official streams.
With the series already earning a renewal for a fifth season, expect more rock deep cuts to get some love at The Original Beef of Chicagoland. — KYLE DENIS