The song that kids and adults are singing around the world has made some history for The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS).
What Happened: The hit song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Disney’s “Encanto” reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100.
The song had 34.9 million U.S. streams for the week, up 8% from the previous week. The song debuted at number 50 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January.
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” became the first Disney movie song to top the charts since “A Whole New World” from “Aladdin” did in 1993.
The song also becomes the first number one hit for Walt Disney Records, as “Whole New World” was released on Columbia Records.
Along with the song topping the charts, the “Encanto” soundtrack remained the bestselling album for a third week. The “Encanto” soundtrack sold 115,000 units, up 11% from the prior week and the soundtrack’s best weekly total.
Unlike “Encanto,” the highest position the “Aladdin” soundtrack reached was sixth.
This was the first time that a soundtrack and song from a Disney animated movie both topped the charts. This was also the first time a movie from any studio accomplished the feat since “Shallow” and the “A Star is Born” soundtrack in 2019.
Only four songs from Disney animated movies have ever reached the top five of the Billboard Hot 100 songs. “Can You Feel The Love Tonight” and “Colors of the Wind” both peaked at number four on the chart.
The song from “Encanto” was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and became the first Billboard Hot 100 number one song written by a single person in over four years.
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” takes over the number one spot from Adele, whose “Easy On Me” topped the charts for ten weeks. The Adele song falls to number two on the Hot 100, but remains on top of the “Radio Songs” list.
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Why It’s Important: The hit song from “Encanto” was even able to outpace the well-known kid favorite sing-along “Let It Go” from “Frozen.” The 2014 hit only peaked of number five on the Hot 100 list.
“We Don’t Talk About Bruno” reached the number one spot while receiving very minimal radio play, which is incredibly hard to do. The song received only 1.5 million radio impressions, which was around 1/62nd of Adele's song. Plays by radio stations and streaming platforms factor into a song’s rank on the Hot 100.
Meanwhile, the “Encanto” single's 34.9 million streams was double that of “Easy on Me.”
Tony Award, Emmy Award and Grammy Award winner Miranda had never topped the Top Billboard Hot 100, which could come as a surprise to those familiar with songs from “Hamilton” and “Moana.”
“Encanto” was released in theaters on Nov. 24 and grossed more than $224 million worldwide.
The Disney movie was added to the Disney+ streaming platform on Dec. 24 and has seen wide viewership.
“Encanto” was the most watched movie on all streaming platforms for the week of Dec. 27, 2021 through Jan. 2, 2022 according to data from Nielsen.
The success of the movie and the soundtrack could lead to Disney getting a boost in consumer products and licensing for the movie. Disney may also look to add a sequel to the movie into the content library to push on the success.
Fans are already calling for an “Encanto” themed ride to be added to the Disney Parks, which may become a reality in the coming years.
Photo: Courtesy of press.disney.co.uk
