Frozen 2 soundtrack debuts at No. 1 on Billboard chart, without a Let It Go so far

Frozen 2 has already topped the domestic box office for the last three weekends. PHOTO: THE WALT DISNEY COMPANY

NEW YORK (NYTimes) - In 2014, the soundtrack to Disney's Frozen topped the Billboard album chart. At the time, it seemed like a fluke - no album from an animated film had gone to No. 1 in almost a decade - but Frozen wound up dominating the chart for 13 weeks.

Can Disney do it again with Frozen 2?

The new soundtrack reached No. 1 on Billboard's chart with the equivalent of 80,000 album sales in the United States, including 51 million streams and 37,000 copies sold as a complete package, according to Nielsen.

The new film has already topped the domestic box office for the last three weekends.

Even in the age of streaming, soundtracks have remained a big business.

While pop hits can be short-lived viral phenomena, successful movie soundtracks often have long, lucrative runs on the chart, as fans snap up complete albums rather than settle for clicking on a single track.

The Greatest Showman, starring Hugh Jackman, for example, had no big hit songs but became the top-selling album of 2018.

The producers of Frozen 2 are clearly shooting for a repeat of their success from five years ago. The new album has the same creative team as the first one - songs by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and excerpts from the score by Christophe Beck - as well as new songs by Panic! At The Disco, Kacey Musgraves and Weezer.

What Frozen 2 does not have, at least so far, is a Let It Go - the monster hit that propelled the first soundtrack and ended up winning both an Oscar and a Grammy.

Its closest contender is Into The Unknown, another power ballad with twinkling piano that features vocals by Idina Menzel - the voice of Let It Go - and Norwegian singer Aurora.

On the chart, Post Malone's Hollywood's Bleeding is at No. 2 while last week's leader, Trippie Redd's mixtape A Love Letter To You 4, falls to No. 3.

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