In early 2014, the soundtrack to Disney’s “Frozen” topped the Billboard album chart. At the time, it seemed like a fluke — no LP from an animated film had gone to No. 1 in almost a decade — but “Frozen” wound up dominating the chart for 13 weeks.
Can Disney do it again with “Frozen 2”?
The new soundtrack reached No. 1 on Billboard’s latest chart with the equivalent of 80,000 album sales in the United States, including 51 million streams and 37,000 copies sold as a complete package, according to Nielsen. The new film has already topped the domestic box office for the last three weekends, racking up a total of $337.6 million.
Even in the age of streaming, soundtracks have remained a big business. While pop hits can be short-lived viral phenomena, successful movie soundtracks often have long, lucrative runs on the charts, as fans snap up complete albums rather than settle for clicking on a single track. “The Greatest Showman,” starring Hugh Jackman, for example, had no big hit songs but became the top-selling album of 2018.
The producers of “Frozen 2” are clearly shooting for a repeat of their success from five years ago. The new album has the same creative team as the first one — songs by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and excerpts from the score by Christophe Beck — as well as new songs by Panic! at the Disco, Kacey Musgraves and Weezer.
What “Frozen 2” does not have, at least so far, is a “Let It Go” — the monster hit that propelled the first soundtrack and ended up winning both an Oscar and a Grammy. Its closest contender is “Into the Unknown,” another power ballad with twinkling piano that features vocals by Idina Menzel — the voice of “Let It Go” — and the Norwegian singer Aurora.
Back on this week’s album chart, Post Malone’s “Hollywood’s Bleeding” is No. 2; last week’s chart-topper, Trippie Redd’s mixtape “A Love Letter to You 4,” falls to No. 3; Taylor Swift’s “Lover” is No. 4; and Billie Eilish’s “When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?” holds at No. 5.
After news that the rapper-singer Juice WRLD died on Sunday at age 21, his fans quickly took to streaming services. On Spotify, five of the Top 10 songs in the United States on Monday morning were by Juice WRLD, with his biggest hit, “Lucid Dreams,” at No. 1. Those plays will be eligible for next week’s charts.
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