Special Report

The Best Original Songs from Disney Movies

Even though Disney has vastly expanded its cinematic repertoire over the last two decades, the company is still closely associated with creating animated musical movies aimed at children (though they also often gain a substantial adult audience). A big part of what makes these films memorable are their original songs – many of which achieve peak positions on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (These are the most dominant reigns in Billboard history.)

To determine the top-charting songs from animated Disney movies, 24/7 Tempo reviewed data on the performance on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, including each song’s date of entry into the Hot 100, total time on the chart, and peak position (and its duration). Songs were ranked based on an inverse performance score wherein a week at No. 1 on the Hot 100 is worth 100 points, a week at No. 2 worth 99 points, and so on, up to a week at No. 100 being worth one point. Chart data is current through July 16, 2022. 

As the Billboard Hot 100 didn’t debut until 1958, earlier hit Disney songs which might have charted – like the Oscar-winning “When You Wish Upon a Star” from 1940’s “Pinocchio” and “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” from 1947’s “Song of the South” – are not included. (These are the best animated Disney movies of all time.)

The film yielding the most hits on the Hot 100 was “Encanto,” placing six songs on this list. One of them, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” was all the rage when it first came out in November 2021. The catchy song was so popular that it was played more times than Happy Birthday on YouTube – and the “Encanto” soundtrack as a whole was the first movie soundtrack to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts in two years.

Click here to see the best original songs from Disney movies

Historically, however, several other songs have performed better than “Bruno.” After all, Disney has been making movies – and songs for those movies – for about a century. (These are the best Disney movies of all time.)

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