Barbie Soundtrack Dominates UK Music Charts
Mark Ronson’s Involvement in Barbie Soundtrack
The Resurgence of Traditional Soundtrack Albums
Now that Barbie has already dominated at the box office, the film’s soundtrack has also dominated the UK music listings.
Since the pink-tinged blockbuster’s release one week ago, songs by Billie Eilish, Dua Lipa, and Nicki Minaj have exploded directly into the top five.
And they were not the only songs from the album with a star-studded lineup to chart.
Anywhere else he’d be in the top 10, but Ryan Gosling’s lament at number 25 brought some Kenergy. I am simply Ken.
It is the first time in the history of the Official Singles Chart that three songs from a soundtrack have simultaneously reached the top five.
You might assume that it would have been difficult to assemble such a glittering cast, given that some of the largest names in pop music were responsible for the soundtrack’s pink, glittering songs.
George Drakoulias, the film’s music supervisor, tells that you are mistaken.
“Nobody said no,” he declares. Everyone was extremely thrilled.
This included two of George’s most desired artists, Nicki Minaj and Lizzo, as well as the renowned writer and producer Mark Ronson.
George claims he recruited Mark for the initiative by sending him a simple text message that read, “Hey Barbie?”
George says, “He called me back immediately, and we sent him a script.” This set the ball in motion.
Mark curated the soundtrack, composed the score, and collaborated with Dua Lipa on the film’s closing tune, “Dance the Night Away.”
Additionally, the soundtrack has played a significant role in Barbie’s enormous marketing campaign.
George believes the continuous distribution of tracks from the 17-track album has “helped fuel excitement for the film.”
“There was a perfectly symbiotic relationship between the music and the film,” he says.
“As soon as people left the theatre after viewing the film and appreciating how well the music works, they went out and purchased the album.”
And, because this is Barbie, the soundtrack is available on “cotton candy” vinyl and transparent pink cassette recordings.
George refuses to disclose his favorite song but says he was “blown away” by What Was I Made For by Billie Eilish.
He claims that the singer was shown only 25 minutes of the film and was able to “condense what she’d seen into this heartbreaking song about being a woman.”
The album’s triumph in the charts, according to George, is “the icing on the cake”
It is Barbie’s universe, and we simply inhabit it, he says.
Aqua’s Barbie Girl, which was interpolated in Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s movie song, returned to the chart for the first time since 1997.
Even though plastic is amazing, Dave and Central Cee kept Sprinter at number one for its eighth week.
Olivia Rodrigo also dug her claws deeper into the number two position, maintaining her position with Vampire.
In 2018, The Greatest Showman soundtrack sales in the United Kingdom surpassed those of Drake and Ariana Grande.
In the age of superheroes and cinematic universes, chart-topping singers working on blockbusters had mostly fallen out of favour.
Even before then, young adult films such as Twilight and The Hunger Games were collaborating with credible alternative artists such as Paramore, Iron & Wine, and The National. Even the (excellent) music for Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 was curated by Lorde.
In recent years, there have been glimmers of the return of the traditional soundtrack album. I Ain’t Worried by OneRepublic was a breakout success from Top Gun Maverick in 2017; and Sunflower by Post Malone & Swae Lee (from Spider-Man: Into The Spiderverse) was a top three single in 2018.
However, just like the film, the Barbie soundtrack defies expectations. The track listing is a who’s who of contemporary musical artists, including Lizzo, Ice Spice, PinkPantheress, and Dua Lipa. Is this the start of a new epoch?
