These are impressive chart positions for real-life pop groups, let alone fictional ones from an animated movie that premiered with relatively little fanfare on Netflix on June 20.

It’s worth noting, though, that the real-life singers who perform these killer K-pop songs are also given individual billing: Golden is credited to HUNTR/X plus EJAE, AUDREY NUNA, REI AMI and the KPop Demon Hunters Cast; Soda Pop and Your Idol are credited to Saja Boys plus Andrew Choi, neckwav, Danny Chung, KEVIN WOO, SamUIL and the KPop Demon Hunters Cast.

It is, quite literally, a case of credit where it’s due.

To celebrate their collective success, we’ve crunched the numbers to reveal some of the biggest hits by fictional pop icons to grace the Official Charts. And for posterity, we’ve included a few near misses by fictional acts, too.

World Class Sinner/I’m A Freak by Lily-Rose Depp (The Idol)

Co-created by The Weeknd and Euphoria’s Levinson, The Idol was very polarising when it premiered in 2023. But everyone could agree that World Class Sinner – the mythical comeback single performed by Lily-Rose Depp’s pop star character Jocelyn – was an absolute banger. The ice-cool club bop seemed like a long-lost cousin of Britney Spears’s Blackout; and this of course was purely intentional, with Blackout’s hard-edged electronic production the perfect crucible for Britney’s palpable rage at her treatment at the hands of the music industry and press on tracks like Piece Of Me. 

Though it was written by The Weeknd with production from Asa Taccone who worked on songs for comedy band The Lonely Island, World Class Sinner doesn’t read as a parody. Yes, there are some cringe-worthy lines (“I’m a good girl gone bad/Get in that car drive fast”) but on the whole, it really sticks. When Jocelyn declares “I’m a motherf*cking world class sinner,” you believe her. 

Shallow by Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born)

The soundtrack for A Star Is Born was a massive hit for Lady Gaga. Not only did it gift Mother Monster her first Oscar (for breakout single Shallow), it also arguably did more to help re-centre Gaga’s commercial career than her previous album, Joanne, which carries the same singer-songwriter aesthetic. 

A Star Is Born’s biggest hit was Shallow, the duet Gaga’s character Ally performed with Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine at the beginning of the film. Gaga’s fifth UK Number 1, it still ranks as Lady Gaga’s biggest song ever in the UK, too.

On A Roll by Ashley O (Black Mirror)

Hey, yeah, whoa-oh! Miley Cyrus‘s first big post-Hannah Monatana acting gig was as another fictional pop star; Ashley O in the Black Mirror episode Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too. Similarly to The Idol, Ashley O is a former teen idol looking to mount a comeback, who transplants her mind into a AI robotic doll when her controlling aunt puts her in a coma (yes, really). 

On A Roll may sound entirely original, but it’s actually, technically a cover of Nine Inch Nails’s Head Like A Hole, with the lyrics re-written by Black Mirror creator Charlie Brooker. A surprise hit from the Netflix series, On A Roll actually reached Number 65 on the Official Singles Chart, and has a very healthy 13 million streams to its name here. So big was its influence, Miley even donned a purple wig to sing On A Roll live during her 2019 Glastonbury set.

natalie portman as celeste in vox lux
Wrapped Up by Natalie Portman (Vox Lux)

Often overlooked in the recent discussions around The Idol, Brady Corbet’s Vox Lux was definitely the darker, edgier sister of A Star Is Born when it was released in 2018. And the fact that A Star Is Born went supernova may have made the messy, disjointed drama (starring Natalie Portman as troubled pop icon Celeste) fly under the radar.

But, with an original soundtrack full of tracks written with the help of Sia, Vox Lux certainly seems to understand pop music better than a lot of its contemporaries, with none of the pop tracks played for laughs. Despite not denting the Official Chart in any way, the OST’s biggest success was the soaring mid-tempo ballad Wrapped Up, written by Sia and production wizard Greg Kurstin.

Nobody Like U by 4*Town (Seeing Red)

There had to be a boy band in here somewhere. 4-Town were the teen heartthrobs featured in Disney Pixar’s Seeing Red, inspired by the likes of One Direction and BTS, especially the fervent fan culture that spawned around them.

FINNEAS – best known for his work with sister Billie Eilish and Selena Gomez, amongst others – actually voiced a member of 4*Town, and even gifted the cartoon teenyboppers a chart smash of their own.

Nobody Like U – which rips on a lot of past Backstreet Boys songs, for our money – actually came packaged with a Billie Eilish co-write, which helped the little bop peak at an impressive Number 56 in the UK.

Aurora by Daisy Jones & The Six (Daisy Jones & The Six)

2023 has certainly been a year for fictional pop stars or, in this case, bands. Daisy Jones & The Six is the titular band from the titular show based on the, uh, titular book from by Taylor Jenkins Reid.

Heavily influenced by Fleetwood Mac and their inter-personal relationships fracturing during the making of Rumors, Daisy Jones & The Six actually recorded an entire album of original material to support the release of the Amazon Prime Series. Featuring stars Riley Keough, Sam Claflin and Suki Waterhouse, the LP AURORA actually made a decent dent on the Official Albums Chart, peaking at Number 26. 

Rock Follies
Rock Follies

Fictional bands storming the charts isn’t a new thing. Back in 1976, ITV scored a major ratings hit with Rock Follies, a musical drama following the ups and downs of a fictional female rock band called the Little Ladies. The show so captured the national mood that the soundtrack album entered the Official Albums Chart at Number 1 – quite a feat at the time.

The Little Ladies were portrayed by actresses Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington; the latter would go on to reach Number 1 with her original rendition of Don’t Cry for Me Argentina from Evita. Rock Follies’ sequel series also launched a soundtrack album, Rock Follies of ’77, that peaked at Number 13 and yielded the Top 10 single OK. The latter was credited to Rula Lenska, Charlotte Cornwell and Julie Covington, plus another performer from the series, Sue Jones-Davies. As with KPop Demon Hunters, the real-life singers were given the credits they deserved.

Article image: Getty