MOANA Soundtrack Soars to No. 2 on Billboard 200 Chart

Billboard reports that the soundtrack to Disney's MOANA, featuring original music from HAMILTON creator and Tony Award winner Lin-Manuel Miranda, rose from No. 6 to No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The album sold 64,000 units, up 21 percent, and 44,000 in traditional album sales, up 37 percent, making it the best-selling album of the week. In addition, it is the only album in the Top 10 to post an increase in either total units or sales.

According to the site, it is common for soundtracks from musically-themed films to do well during the first week of the year, once the chart adjusts to normal non-holiday business. As an example, Billboard cites 2015's INTO THE WOODS soundtrack, which jumped into the top 15 on the chart in the year's first week. Similarly, 2013's soundtrack to LES MISERABLES rose to the No. 1 spot in early January, and in 2007, the soundtrack to DREAMGIRLS soared from the No. 31 position to No. 1 in the first two weeks of January.

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Below, watch the "You're Welcome" sequence from MOANA featuring Maui (voice of Dwayne Johnson) singing the original song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, MOANA is a sweeping, CG-animated feature film about an adventurous teenager who is inspired to leave the safety and security of her island on a daring journey to save her people. Inexplicably drawn to the ocean, Moana (voice of Auli?i Cravalho) convinces the mighty demigod Maui (voice of Dwayne Johnson) to join her mission, and he reluctantly helps her become a wayfinder like her ancestors who sailed before her. Together, they voyage across the open ocean on an action-packed adventure, encountering enormous monsters and impossible odds, and along the way, Moana fulfills her quest and discovers the one thing she's always sought: her own identity.