Lin-Manuel Miranda has left America encantado…
The soundtrack to the Walt Disney animated musical film Encanto, featuring songs written by the 41-year-old Puerto Rican actor, songwriter, singer, playwright, producer, and film director, has surged to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart dated January 15.
The Encanto soundtrack jumps 7-1 in its sixth week on the list.
It’s the first soundtrack to hit No. 1 in more than two years – since Disney’s Frozen II chilled atop the list for one week, on the chart dated December 14, 2019.
Encanto earned 72,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Januaruy 6 (up 76%), according to MRC Data. Streaming activity of the set’s songs drove the majority of that unit sum.
Of Encanto’s 72,000 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending January 6, SEA units comprise 58,000 (up 91%; equaling 87.69 million on-demand official streams of the set’s tracks), album sales comprise 11,000 (up 33%) and TEA units comprise 3,000 (up 33%).
The album’s two most popular songs of the week, by SEA units, are “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” and “Surface Pressure.” “Bruno” and “Surface” both debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated January 8 and should jump up the list dated January 15.
The Encanto soundtrack, with songs written by Miranda and scores by Germaine Franco, was released on Nov. 19, before the film arrived in U.S. theaters on November 24. The movie was released via the Disney+ streaming service a month later — which is likely helping the album’s exposure and promotion in the last two tracking weeks. A week ago, the album leaped 110-7 after its premiere on Disney+.
Encanto is just the sixth animated film soundtrack to hit No. 1 since the Billboard 200 began regularly publishing on a weekly basis in 1956. Encanto follows Frozen II (one week at No. 1, 2019), Frozen (13 weeks, 2014), Jack Johnson’s Curious George (one, 2006), Pocahontas (one, 1995) and The Lion King (10, 1994-95). (All but Curious George are Disney films.)