Walt Disney Records’ soundtrack to Disney Channel’s hit movie “Descendants” debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart after scanning 42,000 units (includes TEA and SEA) in its first week of release, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The soundtrack marks the 5(th) Disney Music Group album in 7 weeks to debut in the Top 10 (Teen Beach 2, Breaking Benjamin, R5 and Bea Miller).
In addition to its chart-topping Billboard debut, the album ranked No. 1 on Billboard’s Soundtrack chart, No. 1 on the Children’s chart and No. 1 on both the Digital Album and Top Albums charts. The album also fast-tracked its way to No. 1 on the iTunes Album Overall and Soundtrack charts. Additionally, combined views for all videos on VEVO exceed 25 million, and the focus track “Rotten to the Core” has over 12.7 million views to date.
Disney Channel’s premiere and encore telecasts of “Descendants” reached 15.5 million Total Viewers, including over 6 million Kids 6-11 and nearly 5 million Tweens 9-14. Friday’s July 31(st) premiere telecast was TV’s #1 cable movie of 2015 with 6.6 million Total Viewers. Its availability on the WATCH Disney Channel App resulted in 1.4 million record-setting views since Friday, July 24.
Disney’s “Descendants” stars Dove Cameron, Cameron Boyce, Booboo Stewart and Sofia Carson as the teenage sons and daughters of Disney’s most infamous villains. With a knowing wink at traditional fairy tales, the live-action movie fuses castles with classrooms to create a contemporary, music-driven story about the challenges in living up to parental and peer expectations. The notable cast also includes Mitchell Hope, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Maz Jobrani, Kathy Najimy and the Tony Award-winning Kristin Chenoweth. Emmy Award-winning Kenny Ortega (“High School Musical”) directs, choreographs and executive-produces Disney’s “Descendants.”
In addition to songs performed in the film and the end credit song “Believe” by Shawn Mendes, the soundtrack also includes bonus tracks from the recently announced short-form series “Descendants Wicked World.” The four original dance songs include a retro-soul “Rotten to the Core” remix performed by Sofia Carlson; “Night Is Young” performed by China Anne McClain; “Good Is the New Bad” performed by Dove Cameron, Sofia Caron and China Anne McClain; and “I’m Your Girl” performed by Felicia Barton.