Will WICKED Movie's ‘Defying Gravity’ Single Surpass GLEE on Billboard Charts?

Defying Gravity continues to be popular with listeners. The iconic musical number, sung by Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked, has hit the Billboard Top100, not once, but twice.

Following Idina Menzel's rendition of the song on the original cast album (which did not appear in the Top100), the Glee cast recording peaked at 31 during the week of November 21-28, 2009. 

The song appeared in Glee's ninth episode "Wheels" in 2009, sung separately by Lea Michele and Chris Colfer's characters Rachel and Kurt, respectively. A duet version was released as a single that November. Other popular renditions of the song include Idina Menzel's pop single version, which peaked at 25 on the US Dance Club Songs Billboard chart and number 2 on the US Hot Singles Sales. In a fun Wicked connection, Glee fans will recall that Jeff Goldblum (The Wizard in the new film) plays Lea Michelle's dad Hiram Berry in the show, with Menzel playing her mom Shelby Corcoran.

Jumping ahead to December 2024, the newest rendition has made the Top100 chart as well. Released as part of the Wicked movie soundtrack, Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's version has peaked this week at number 44. With only one week on the charts, time will tell if it can surpass the well-loved Glee version of the Stephen Schwartz song.

However, given its popularity, it isn't unlikely that the song will stay on the charts. The Wicked movie soundtrack as a whole recently debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales, Soundtracks, and Vinyl Albums charts, hitting No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album has broken the record for the highest debut of a movie musical adaptation soundtrack ever for the Billboard 200, which ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. 

The film soundtrack features every song from Act One of the stage musical, beginning with No One Mourns the Wicked and concluding with the iconic Defying Gravity. The soundtrack opted to omit the underscoring, which will be released separately. 

The Wicked film adaptation, currently in theaters, stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Ariana Grande as Glinda, Jonathan Bailey as Fiyero, Jeff Goldblum as The Wizard, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, Ethan Slater as Boq, and Marissa Bode as Nessarose. The first part was released on November 22, 2024, with Part Two hitting theaters on November 21, 2025.