Netflix animation "K-Pop Demon Hunters" has emerged as a defining cultural trend this year, sweeping Google search rankings amid its global popularity.
According to Google's "Year in Search 2025" report released Thursday, K-Pop Demon Hunters ranked second in overall US search terms. The series also claimed the top spot in both the movies and cast categories, demonstrating its overwhelming presence in the entertainment sector.
The top US search term was Charlie Kirk, a conservative youth activist who died in September last year, while Labubu, a plush toy character created by a Hong Kong designer, ranked third.
The show's soundtrack popularity was equally remarkable. Three songs from K-Pop Demon Hunters simultaneously entered the UK Official Singles Chart Top 100. The lead track "Golden" ranked 13th, down seven spots from the previous week, but successfully remained on the chart for 24 consecutive weeks. The song topped the chart for 10 non-consecutive weeks after its release, making it one of the longest-running No. 1 songs this year. Other soundtrack songs "How It's Done" and "What It Sounds Like" reached 30th and 41st place respectively.
AI-related interest was also reflected in search rankings. Google's AI model "Gemini" topped global search volume this year. Google analyzed that users worldwide showed a strong tendency to navigate to the Gemini chatbot through search.
Meanwhile, changes in Korean interests were also notable in Google search trends.
While K-Pop Demon Hunters-related content dominated the entertainment category, political issues drew explosive attention in Korean search rankings. Political search terms including "2025 presidential election," Lee Jae-myung, and "remand" swept the top spots across multiple categories.
The top news search was "2025 presidential election," the top person search was "Lee Jae-myung," and the top definition search was "remand." This is interpreted as a result of surging civic and political interest among Korean internet users following political and social turmoil including the December 3 martial law declaration last year and the impeachment of former President Yoon Suk-yeol.
In the lifestyle category, "Young Forty," a keyword representing middle-aged consumer trends, topped fashion searches, reflecting generational shifts in consumer culture.
Google described this year as "2025 was the year an American became Pope, K-Pop Demon Hunters dominated the charts, and new AI captured the imagination."
