HNTRIX makes history
- HNTRIX was named Billboard’s Women of the Year, becoming the first group and first Asian American to win. - The recognition cites the group's crossover work tied to Netflix’s Demon Hunter and solo projects. - The award highlights how streaming franchises and transmedia exposure are elevating K‑pop acts into mainstream award cycles. (youtube.com)
Billboard named EJAE, Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami — the singers behind HUNTR/X in Netflix’s *KPop Demon Hunters* — its 2026 Women of the Year. (billboard.com) Billboard said the honor makes them the first group to receive the award together, and Billboard’s interview with the trio described the win as a first for Asian women in the category. The Women in Music ceremony is set for April 29, 2026, at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles. (billboard.com 1) (billboard.com 2) (billboard.com 3) The three artists are not a conventional touring act. They recorded the songs for the fictional girl group HUNTR/X in *KPop Demon Hunters*, and Billboard reported they had not all been in the same place together until the film’s June 2025 premiere. (billboard.com) Netflix released *KPop Demon Hunters* on June 20, 2025, as an animated musical about a K-pop girl group that also hunts demons. By April 2026, Netflix said the film had become its most popular movie ever, after earlier calling it the service’s most-watched original title. (netflix.com 1) (netflix.com 2) The music drove the award as much as the film did. Billboard said HUNTR/X’s “Golden” spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the Hot 100, and the *KPop Demon Hunters* soundtrack had already debuted atop the Soundtracks chart and in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. (billboard.com 1) (billboard.com 2) That chart run put a streaming franchise inside an award cycle that usually centers on solo stars and established groups. Billboard’s own profile of the singers framed the past year as a shift from soundtrack contributors to mainstream pop figures, with each artist also carrying a separate solo career. (billboard.com) EJAE had worked for years as a songwriter in the Korean pop system before the film, while Audrey Nuna and Rei Ami had already built U.S.-based solo catalogs before joining the soundtrack. Billboard said that mix of Korean pop training, American rap and R&B careers, and a Netflix hit gave HUNTR/X an audience larger than a typical soundtrack side project. (billboard.com) The Women in Music honor arrives before the 2026 ceremony itself, but the result is already clear: a fictional group from a Netflix movie has been folded into one of Billboard’s top annual awards. For HUNTR/X, the line between soundtrack act and pop act is now mostly gone. (billboard.com) (billboard.com)
