‘Moana’ Soundtrack Back on Top

Auli'i Cravalho performs at the 2017 Oscars

Moana’s Auli’i Cravalho performs at the 89th Annual Academy Awards on Feb. 26. (Photo: Eddy Chen/ABC)

Walt Disney Records’ Moana has regained the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Soundtrack chart for the week of April 29, bumping that company’s Beauty and the Beast to No. 2, after a six week stint at the top. Moana also climbed a notch on the Billboard 200 chart, back up to No. 6, where it’s been toggling (between No. 7) for the past few weeks.

The bump represents a climbs a 16 percent increase in sales, which translates to 50,000 units, according to Billboard chart editor Keith Caulfield. The staying power of Moana is impressive. The film was released theatrically Nov. 23, 2016 and entered the Billboard 200 Chart at No. 2 on Dec. 10.

Powered by songs by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, as well as South Pacific fusion performer Opetaia Foa’i and 16-year-old Hawaiian newcomer Auli’i Cravalho, who has become a pop sensation in her own right.

On April 14, the RIAA certified the Moana soundtrack platinum, for US sales of more than one million units (a unit being the equivalent of one paid download, 10 track sales or 1500 track streams). Both the Auli’i Cravalho and Alessia Cara versions of “How Far I’ll Go” have been certified gold ]the by the RIAA.

It is the third soundtrack to go platinum so far this year, surfing the wake of the Villa 40/RCA Records Release Trolls, which received certification Jan. 19, and Atlantic Records’ Furious 7: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, on Jan. 12.

While it fell on the Billboard Soundtrack chart, the 2017 Beauty and the Beast soundtrack climbed, from 11 to 9, on the Billboard 200, adding just over 37,000 unit sales for a 7 percent gain. The album has more than 35 million streams worldwide on Spotify. Walt Disney Records recorded the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack in a whopping 17 languages, and released all localized versions in the US, a first, according to the company.

Comments are closed.