Eighteen Glee soundtracks reached No. 1 -- more than three times as many as any other franchise.
Frozen is molten-hot. In fact, it's the top franchise in the history of Billboard's Soundtracks chart (which originated in June 2001). The original Frozen soundtrack topped that chart for 44 weeks -- longer than any other soundtrack (whether from a franchise or not) -- and Frozen II is in its 21st week on top, the longest run for any soundtrack to a sequel. That combined total of 65 weeks at No. 1 is more than the combined total for any other franchise in the history of the chart.
Frozen's lead is especially impressive because it entails just two albums. The next four franchises on this list reflect the combined strength of three or more No. 1 soundtracks.
Here are all franchises in which two or more soundtracks reached No. 1 on Billboard's Soundtracks chart and held the top spot for a combined total of 10 weeks or more. All chart references are to the Soundtracks chart and to the Billboard Hot 100.
1. Frozen, 65 weeks. Frozen spawned Idina Menzel's "Let It Go," a No. 5 hit on the Hot 100 in 2014 and an Oscar winner for best original song. Frozen II spawned Menzel's "Into the Unknown," an Oscar nominee for best original song. Menzel is one of the voice actors in this animated franchise, along with Kristen Bell, Jonathan Groff and Josh Gad. Frozen won a Grammy for best compilation soundtrack for visual media. If Frozen II also wins in that category, Frozen will be the first franchise to win twice since the category was introduced in 1999.
2. Hannah Montana, 57 weeks. Four of the five Hannah Montana soundtracks to reach No. 1 were from the Disney Channel TV series starring Miley Cyrus. The most successful was the first, which logged 21 weeks at No. 1 in 2006-07. Hannah Montana 2/Meet Miley Cyrus had 11 weeks on top in 2007-08. Hannah Montana 3 logged four weeks at No. 1 in 2009. (It spawned a top 10 hit on the Hot 100, "He Could Be the One," the only one credited to Hannah Montana.) Hannah Montana Forever had two weeks on top in 2010. Hannah Montana: The Movie, from a theatrically-released film starring Cyrus, logged 19 weeks at No. 1 in 2009. It spawned "The Climb," Cyrus' first top five hit on the Hot 100. (It peaked at No. 4.)
3. High School Musical, 45 weeks. Two of the three HSM soundtracks to reach No. 1 were from the Disney Channel original movies starring Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. The first, from 2006, logged 26 weeks on top, the longest for a TV soundtrack. High School Musical 2 had 17 weeks on top in 2007. Both albums spawned top 10 hits. Efron and Hudgens' "Breaking Free," from the first album, reached No. 4 on the Hot 100. The cast's "What Time Is It," from the second, reached No. 6. The soundtrack from High School Musical 3: Senior Year, a theatrical film, spent two weeks on top in 2008.
4. Glee, 42 weeks. No Glee album or EP was No. 1 on Soundtracks for more than six weeks. (The franchise's longest-running No. 1 was Glee: The Music, The Christmas Album, in 2010-11.) So why does the Fox TV franchise rank so high? Eighteen Glee soundtracks reached No. 1 -- more than three times as many as any other franchise. All those weeks add up. The Glee Cast amassed 207 Hot 100 hits, which stood as the record for any artist until Drake surpassed them in March 2020. The Glee cast, led by Matthew Morrison, Lea Michele and Jane Lynch, won the Screen Actors Guild Award in 2009 for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a comedy series.
5. The Twilight Saga, 33 weeks. Five Twilight soundtracks reached No. 1, more than any other franchise in which the films were released theatrically. The first Twilight soundtrack logged 16 weeks at No. 1 in 2008-09 and spawned a top 40 hit on the Hot 100, Paramore's "Decode." The Twilight Saga: New Moon had three weeks on top in 2009-10. …Eclipse had five weeks on top in 2010. …Breaking Dawn: Part 1 logged five weeks on top in 2011-12. It spawned the franchise's biggest hit song, Bruno Mars' "It Will Rain," which reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. …Breaking Dawn: Part 2 had four weeks on top in 2012. Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson starred in the first film. Taylor Lautner joined them for the second.
6. Pitch Perfect, 29 weeks. The first Pitch Perfect soundtrack logged 20 weeks at No. 1 in 2012-13 and spawned a surprise No. 6 hit on the Hot 100, Anna Kendrick's "Cups." A 2015 sequel logged nine weeks on top. Kendrick starred in both films alongside Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Skylar Astin and Rebel Wilson. (How did Brittany Snow not get hired for Frozen?)
7. Guardians of the Galaxy, 26 weeks. Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1, featuring such '70s smashes as Blue Swede's "Hooked on a Feeling" and Redbone's "Come and Get Your Love," logged 21 weeks at No. 1 from 2014-16. Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2: Awesome Mix Vol. 2 logged five weeks on top in 2017 (despite that cumbersome title). The films turned Chris Pratt into a star.
8. Spider-Man, 20 weeks. The soundtrack to Spider-Man, from the first film starring Tobey Maguire, had six weeks on top in 2002. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, from the computer-animated version starring Shameik Moore, had 11 weeks on top in 2019. That 17-year span of No. 1-charting soundtracks is the longest for any franchise. Both albums were boosted by smash singles. Chad Kroeger featuring Josey Scott's "Hero," from the first album, reached No. 3 on the Hot 100. Post Malone & Swae Lee's "Sunflower," from Into the Spider-Verse, hit No. 1 and received a Grammy nod for record of the year. (A third soundtrack, Spider-Man 2, had three weeks on top in 2004.)
9. Descendants, 17 weeks. The soundtrack to the first Disney Channel film, which starred Dove Cameron and the late Cameron Boyce, logged 11 weeks at No. 1 in 2015. Descendants 2 had two weeks on top in 2017. Descendants 3 had four weeks on top in 2019. The eternally youthful Kenny Ortega directed all three movies. Ortega also did the honors on the High School Musical movies and The Cheetah Girls 2.
9. Mamma Mia!, 17 weeks. The soundtrack to the first film, which was based on the smash jukebox musical of ABBA confections, was No. 1 for 14 weeks in 2008. Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, in which Cher joined Meryl Streep, Amanda Seyfried and other cast members from the first film, had three weeks on top in 2018.
11. Alvin and the Chipmunks, 14 weeks. The soundtrack to Alvin and the Chipmunks, the feature film starring the surprisingly durable rodents that first started gnawing their way into the record books in 1958, logged five weeks at No. 1 in 2008. The sequel, Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (clever title), had even longer (nine weeks) on top in 2010. Fun fact: "The Chipmunk Song" was nominated for record of the year at the first (1958) Grammys.
12. The Cheetah Girls, 13 weeks. The soundtrack EP from the first Disney Channel TV movie, which starred Raven-Symone, logged four weeks on top in 2004. The soundtrack from the sequel had nine weeks on top in 2006.
13. The Fast and the Furious, 11 weeks. The original The Fast and the Furious logged three weeks on top in 2001. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) and Furious 7 (2015) each logged four weeks on top. The first album spawned Ja Rule's "Put It On Me," a No. 8 hit on the Hot 100. Furious 7 spawned "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth, which topped the Hot 100 for 12 weeks, longer than any other film song of the 2010s. "See You Again," which allowed fans to mourn the tragic death of actor Paul Walker, one of the stars of the franchise, received a Grammy nod for song of the year.
13. Teen Beach Movie, 11 weeks. The soundtrack from the first Disney Channel TV movie, which starred Ross Lynch and Maia Mitchell, was No. 1 for 10 weeks in 2013. The soundtrack from a 2015 sequel, Teen Beach 2, had one week on top.
15. Camp Rock, 10 weeks. The soundtrack from the first Disney Channel TV movie was No. 1 for four weeks in 2008 and spawned a No. 9 hit on the Hot 100, "This Is Me" by the film's stars, Demi Lovato and Joe Jonas. The soundtrack to the 2010 sequel, Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam, had even longer on top (six weeks).
Here are five more franchises in which two or more soundtracks reached No. 1 on Billboard's Soundtracks chart and held the top spot for a combined total of six weeks or more: Fifty Shades of Grey (eight weeks), Star Wars (eight weeks), American Idol (seven weeks), Empire (six weeks) and The Hunger Games (six weeks).
This list doesn't include individual soundtrack albums even if they had long runs at No. 1, such as O Brother, Where Art Thou (34 weeks at No. 1) and The Greatest Showman (32 weeks). The focus here in on top film and soundtrack franchises.
For the purposes of this ranking, franchises are film or television series which have a continuing story line with recurring characters, and, most often, actors.