Love triangles, all-time classics, and new debuts â Summer 2025 proved to be a sensational media season with the continuation of popular shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty and Love Island, along with the release of the new Superman movie. Despite the hype around all three, the spotlight ultimately came to shine upon a showdown between a juggernaut that exercised its dominance over the Netflix charts for years upon years, resonating with a global fanbase and amassing over $900 million in revenue⌠and three animated girls.
Fans around the world waited in anticipation for Squid Game Season 3 to release this past summer, especially knowing it would be the final season of the critically acclaimed series. They were not disappointed. Squid Game became the number-one title in all 93 countries tracked by Netflixâs analytic data within a week of its release; 106 million views accumulated in ten days, setting a new record for Netflix. Indeed, many were certain that Squid Game would be the defining TV series that set precedence in summer â25; however, no one could have expected what was to come.
Just when it seemed like the greatest show of the summer had been decided, a newcomer emerged from seeming nothingness. K-Pop Demon Hunters premiered on Netflix on June 20, and seventy-five days later, the hit animated film had overtaken Squid Game as Netflixâs most-watched title of all time. KDH was originally conceived in a Sony studio by director Maggie Kang in March of 2021, but the rights were sold to Netflix later that year.
Sony believed that the movie would be a flop, but the superb voice acting, animation, and storyline proved otherwise, netting Netflix $20 million in its opening weekend in theaters. The charming and upbeat soundtrack is where KDH really shines. The soundtrack is composed of 12 songs, led by âGolden,â which has topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States for nine consecutive weeks â surpassing Alex Warrenâs âOrdinaryâ and Sabrina Carpenterâs âManchild.â
This movie had no initial hype surrounding its release, yet it was still the Sukuna to Squid Gameâs Gojo. When two titans collide head-to-head, viewers are left with one burning question: who is truly the GOAT? The debate is still ongoing, but regardless of the winner, Squid Game and K-Pop Demon Hunters both played defining roles in shaping the media landscape in the summer of 2025.