Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans' animated sensation KPop Demon Hunters won hearts and minds back when it debuted in June 2025. It quickly soared to the top of Netflix's charts, beating Ryan Reynolds and Dwayne Johnson's Red Notice in becoming the most watched movie on the streaming platform. However, a year later, Netflix has a new animated film that recently knocked KPop Demon Hunters off its perch, though it's unclear whether this new competitor has the staying power of HUNTR/X.
Starring Michael B. Jordan and Juno Temple as a tiny woodland pookoo named Ollie and a regal Javan bird named Ivy, respectively, director Nathan Greno's animated comedy Swapped follows the two critters after shenanigans with a magical pod lead them to becoming body swapped. Think of it like Freaky Friday, but with far more wildlife involved.
Debuting on the streaming platform on May 1, 2026, Swapped found immediate success. In its first week, it raked in over 38 million views on Netflix, surpassing KPop Demon Hunters' record of best single-week viewership for an animated movie. But that's not all, as revealed via Netflix's official blog, Swapped also beat the demon-slaying badasses of HUNTR/X in overall viewership in the first half of 2026. While KPop Demon Hunters raked in a phenomenal 130 million views in the first half of 2026, Swapped pulled ahead, bringing in 131 million views overall.
Those numbers tell more of a story than you might think, however. For one thing, while Swapped has more views overall, the distance between it and KPop Demon Hunters is not exactly a chasm. Considering that the film about K-Pop superstars by day and demon slayers by night was released last year and is still one of the most-watched films a year later, it's clear that KPop Demon Hunters has huge staying power.
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That, in itself, is not all that surprising. The fandom around the film's fictional bands HUNTR/X and Saja Boys was huge from the get-go, and after winning multiple awards, taking part in collaborations, and a huge push in merchandise, it doesn’t look as though KPop Demon Hunters will be going anywhere anytime soon. The fictional K-pop girl group even has a live tour planned for next year, and fans eagerly wait for the franchise's upcoming sequel.
Swapped is a wonderful and creative Pixar-esque film that touched the hearts of kids everywhere. KPop Demon Hunters touched everyone — and that's what will keep it relevant even as years go on.
KPop Demon Hunters and Swapped are both available to stream now on Netflix.