Huntr/x “Golden” hit #1

Golden Huntr/x

Writer(s): Ejae, Mark Sonnenblick, 24, Ido, Teddy (see lyrics here) Released: July 4, 2025 First Charted: July 2, 2025 Peak: 18 BB, 11 BA, 15 DG, 112 ST, 12 RR, 10 AC, 3 A40, 110 UK, 15 CN, 117 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 2.0 US, 1.2 UK, 3.96 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1041.09 video, 1388.24 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: It was only a matter of time before someone created a movie to tap into the Kpop craze initiated by Korean pop acts like BTS and Psy that crossed over in America. 2025’s KPop Demon Hunters was “an animated musical with no big-name voice actors, based around a genre with passionate but extremely protective fans, whose stars – even some of the very biggest ones – have found difficulty crossing over to the most mainstream American spaces.” BB’25 “There were a million ways that could go wrong, and only one way that it really could go right: The songs were gonna have to be very, very, very good.” BB’25 Rolling Stone declared “the animated K-pop fantasia…was one of 2025’s pop-cultural bright spots.” RS’25 The soundtrack album’s “giddy lead single” RS’25 “only amped up the joyful frenzy surrounding it.” RS’25 The “synth-draped” RS’25 “Golden” spent eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and the magazine’s staff picked it as the song of the year, calling it “the best, most exciting pop song of 2025.” BB’25 The song was nominated for a Grammy for Song of the Year. The song was “credited to the titular stars-slash-slayers HUNTR/X and performed by Audrey Nuna, Rei Ami, and co-writer EJAE.” RS’25 “It was the perfect HUNTR/X song. It’s aspirational, in the grand tradition of Disney…songs” BB’25 and “the propulsive drums and glistening synths make the entire thing feel like an Olympic awards ceremony.” BB’25 “But the real miracle of ‘Golden’ is that you don’t need to already be a fan of KPop Demon Hunters – or really even of K-pop in general – to love it. It’s thrived…where previous Disney and movie anthems failed, because they were too inextricably tied to their source soundtracks.” BB’25 “The song is so glorious, and its ascent has taken it so high up, that it’s largely broken free of the movie’s orbit.” BB’25 Resources: BB’25 Billboard (12/11/2025). “The 100 Best Songs of 2025: Staff Picks” RS’25 Rolling Stone (12/4/2025). “The 100 Best Songs of 2025” Related Links: First posted 1/18/2026.

DaBaby “Rockstar” hit #1

Rockstar DaBaby with Roddy Ricch

Writer(s): Jonathan Kirk, Rodrick Moore Jr., Ross Portaro IV (see lyrics here) Released: April 17, 2020 First Charted: May 2, 2020 Peak: 17 BB, 110 ST, 19 RB, 16 UK, 11 CN, 16 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 5.0 US, 1.8 UK, 9.74 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 933.13 video, 1669.06 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Jonathan Lyndale Kirk (stage name DaBaby) was born in 1991 in Cleveland, Ohio. The Rapper released several mixtapes between 2014 and 2017 before signing to Interscope Records. He released two albums in 2019 followed by Blame It on Baby in 2020. It was his third platinum release and second chart-topper. The album featured “Rockstar,” his second single from the album and his first #1 in the U.S. It also reached the pinnacle in nine other countries. The single featured Rodrick Wayne Moore Jr. (aka “Roddy Ricch”), a rapper born in 1998 in Compton, California. He also released some mixtapes before his album debut in 2019. However, he had already reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 a few months earlier than “Rockstar” with his own hit, “The Box.” On the original, the two rappers “draw a parallel between their hip-hop gangster lifestyles and those of rock stars.” SF DaBaby also used firearms to stand in for guitars. He also rapped about an incident in which he was with his two-year-old daughter at Walmart and fatally shot a would-be robber. SF In June 2020, DaBaby released the BLM (Black Lives Matter) remix of the song. It substituted an extra verse for the original intro. It concerned the George Floyd protests that started in May 2020 and DaBaby’s personal experience with police abuse. WK Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for DaBaby DMDB encyclopedia entry for Roddy Ricch SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 4/10/2024; last updated 10/14/2024.

 

Cardi B “I Like It” hit #1

I Like It Cardi B with Bad Bunny & J. Balvin

Writer(s): Belcalis Almanzar, Benito Ocasio, José Osorio, Tony Pabón, Marcos Masis, Jesus Nieves, Manny Rodriguez, Jorden Thorpe, Anthony White, Vincent Watson, Edgar Machuca, Xavier Vargas, Edgar Vargas, Benny Bonnilla (see lyrics here) Released: May 25, 2018 First Charted: April 21, 2018 Peak: 11 BB, 12 BA, 11 DG, 34 A40, 11 RB, 8 UK, 2 CN, 14 AU (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 11.0 US, 1.2 UK, 14.46 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 1768.01 video, 1598.42 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: “I Like It” was the fourth single from American rapper and singer Cardi B’s 2018 Invasion of Privacy album. It was her second trip to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 – her first time was with her debut single “Bodak Yellow.” It made her the first female rapper with two chart-topping hits. SF “I Like It” also featured Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and Colombian singer J. Balvin performing in Spanish and English. It was the first #1 for either of them. The song has been described as “a blend of trap and salsa.” WK It is considered the first Latin trap song to top the Hot 100. WK Billboard called it “the ultimate Latin crossover track.” BB Stereogum staff said the song “continued to firm up a lane for Spanish language in the American pop mainstream.” WK The song was built on samples from the 1967 hit “I Like It Like That” by Pete Rodriguez, nicknamed “The King of Boogaloo.” It gained attention again in 1994 when the Blackout All Stars covered the song for the movie I Like It Like That and it reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was revived again in 2011 by Tito Nieves. Cardi B’s song actually sampled from “I Like It Like That” and a song from Tito Nieves called “Yeah, I Like It!” BB Rodriguez didn’t even know his song had been sampled until his grandkids told him. SF Rolling Stone’s Brittany Spanos said it “sounds like it was chemically concocted in a mad scientist’s lab to be 2018’s reigning song of the summer.” WK In ranking it as one of the best songs of the decade, Rolling Stone staff called it “a multicultural, worldwide block party.” WK The song was the first from a female rapper to surpass a billion streams on Spotify. WK It was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year. Resources: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Cardi B BB Billboard.com (6/1/2018). “From Pete Rodriguez to Tito Nieves to Cardi B, the Definitive History of ‘I Like It’” by Leila Cobo SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia First posted 3/31/2024; last updated 4/14/2024.