'Golden' Makes History At AMAs After Defeating Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’

Published 05/26/2026, 12:08 AM EDT

via Imago

'Golden' has now added another massive milestone to its unstoppable global run after defeating Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ at the American Music Awards. Whenever Taylor Swift releases a new album, Billboard domination almost becomes automatic for the pop icon. But this time, Swift seems to have found one unusually powerful competitor in ‘Golden’, the breakout soundtrack hit from K-Pop Demon Hunters that has repeatedly blocked ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ while continuing its own explosive global momentum.

And now, Swift’s frustrating wait for another history-making milestone may have just become even tougher after ‘Golden’ stormed through the AMAs too.

Golden defeated Taylor Swift and Morgan Wallen at the AMAs

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'Golden' officially claimed Song of the Year at the American Music Awards held at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. The breakout soundtrack hit from K-Pop Demon Hunters defeated major contenders, including ‘Ordinary’ by Alex Warren, ‘I'm the Problem’ by Morgan Wallen, and ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ by Taylor Swift. The song is performed by fictional girl group HUNTRIX, voiced by EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami.

The song’s historic run had already exploded long before the AMAs victory. ‘Golden’ previously won Best Song Written for Visual Media at the Grammys, along with Best Original Song victories at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars, where EJAE became the first Korean-American winner in Golden Globes history. The track additionally became the first female-led K-pop song to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, while the full K-Pop Demon Hunters soundtrack has now crossed over 10 billion global streams.

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But despite losing another major battle to ‘Golden’, Taylor Swift’s ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ still remains one of the biggest music phenomena of the year.

The Fate Of Ophelia became one of Taylor Swift’s biggest hits

After dominating Billboard charts for 10 weeks at No. 1, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ continued exploding globally following its 2025 release from ‘The Life of a Showgirl’. The massive hit officially surpassed ‘Anti-Hero’ to become Taylor Swift’s longest-running Billboard Hot 100 leader while also breaking Spotify records with more than 30 million first-day streams. The track later became Taylor Swift’s fastest song ever to cross 500 million global streams.

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Beyond the charts, ‘The Fate of Ophelia’ also continued receiving major industry praise through its synth-pop sound and emotional lyricism. The hit later won Pop Song of the Year, Best Music Video, and Best Lyrics at the 2026 iHeartRadio Music Awards, while ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ kept dominating fandom discussions through tracks like ‘Elizabeth Taylor’, ‘Actually Romantic’, and the Sabrina Carpenter collaboration ‘The Life of a Showgirl’.

And while ‘Golden’ may have stolen another massive victory from Taylor Swift at the AMAs, the growing rivalry between the two global hits has now turned into one of music’s biggest conversations of 2026.

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What are your thoughts on ‘Golden’ taking home the AMA Song of the Year award this year? Let us know in the comments.

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Lisa Roy

216 articles

Lisa Roy is an Entertainment Writer at NetflixJunkie, bringing Hollywood’s biggest moments to life through crisp news and fan-focused feature stories. With a Master’s in English Literature and over four years of experience across national and international domains , she is known for an eye for stories that fans instantly connect with. While she enjoys covering real-world gossip, she is deeply drawn to fictional universes of wizardry and witches.

Edited By: Itti Mahajan

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