Movies and music have always gone together, even the early silent movies had live orchestras or a theater organist playing along. When the first sound movies came out, the sound was music, not dialogue.
The first commercially released movie soundtrack was for the Disney animated classic “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” way back in 1938. In the 1940s, soundtrack albums started becoming popular and they’ve stayed that way ever since. And new research tells us what the most popular soundtracks of all time are.
- 24/7 Wall Street has determined the most popular movie soundtracks of all time, based on performance data for movie soundtracks on the Billboard 200 album charts.
- Their ranking of the top 40 movie soundtracks finds that 13 are from the 1960s. In 1964 alone there were four: “Goldfinger,” “Zorba the Greek,” “Mary Poppins,” and “My Fair Lady.”
- The following year (1965) has three of the most popular soundtracks: “The Sound of Music,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “Dr. Zhivago.”
- Another big year was 1994, with soundtracks from “The Lion King,” “Forrest Gump” and “Pulp Fiction.”
- Soundtracks from “Purple Rain” and “Saturday Night Fever” held the number one spot on the Billboard 200 for 24 weeks each, the longest of any on this list.
The 10 Most Popular Movie Soundtracks of All Time
10) “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) - 137 weeks on Billboard 200, with 24 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “Stayin’ Alive” by Bee Gees
9) “High School Musical” (2006) - 108 weeks on Billboard 200, with 2 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “Breaking Free” by Zac Efron & Vanessa Hudgens
8) “O Brother, Where Are Thou?” (2000) - 112 weeks on Billboard 200, with 2 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow” by The Soggy Bottom Boys, Dan Tyminski
7) “Frozen” (2013) - 178 weeks on Billboard 200, with 13 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “Let It Go” by Idina Menzel
6) “My Fair Lady” (1964) - 111 weeks on Billboard 200, with 2 weeks at number four.
Biggest song: “I Could Have Danced All Night” by Marni Nixon
5) “Mary Poppins” (1964) - 122 weeks on Billboard 200, with 14 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” by Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, The Pearlie Chorus
4) “The Greatest Showman” (2017) - 190 weeks on Billboard 200, with 2 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “This Is Me” by Keala Settle, The Greatest Showman Ensemble
3) “Doctor Zhivago” (1965) - 157 weeks on Billboard 200, with 1 week at number one.
Biggest song: “Interior Student Cafe” by Maurice Jarre
2) “Moana” (2016) - 316 weeks on Billboard 200, with 1 week at number two.
Biggest song: “How Far I’ll Go” by Alessia Cara
1) “The Sound of Music” (1965) 238 weeks on Billboard 200, with 2 weeks at number one.
Biggest song: “Do-Re-Mi” by Angela Cartwright, Charmian Carr, Debbie Turner, Duane Chase, Heather Menzies, Irwin Kosal, Julie Andrews, Kym Karath, Nicholas Hammond
Source: 247 Wall St