Barbie: The Album makes history on Official Singles Chart
Written by worldOneFm on July 28, 2023
Life in plastic truly is fantastic! As we all took the trip to Barbieland with Greta Gerwig’s box office behemoth Barbie, it turns out that Barbie was also eyeing domination on the UK’s Official Singles Chart.
As Barbie: The Album tops this week’s Official Compilations Chart, three tracks lifted from it rise into the Top 5. This makes it the first film soundtrack in UK chart history to land three Top 5 singles simultaneously; Billie Eilish’s contemplative What Was I Made For (3), Dua Lipa’s Dance The Night (4) and Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice and Aqua’s Barbie World (5).
What Was I Made For rises seven places, with a 71% uplift in chart units compared to last week, when it debuted at Number 10. Similarly, Dance The Night boosts up eleven places into the Top 10 for the first time, with its total chart units seeing an 86% uplift, to become Dua’s 13th Top 10 single.
Barbie World grants Aqua their first UK Top 5 in 25 years, since Turn Back Time in 1998, enjoying a week-on-week uplift of 115%, becoming Ice Spice’s first, Nicki’s 15th and Aqua’s sixth Official Top 10 entry.
The first film soundtrack to score three simultaneous Top 10s was Saturday Night Fever in 1978 (Night Fever, If I Can’t Have You, More Than A Woman), while Grease also completed a trifecta in the same year (Summer Nights, Grease, Hopelessly Devoted To You).
Last year, Disney’s Encanto became the first animated film soundtrack to claim three simultaneous Top 10s with We Don’t Talk About Bruno, Surface Pressure and The Family Madrigal.
And the Barbie-mania doesn’t stop there! A whole host of tracks from Barbie: The Album have impacted the wider Official Singles Chart today, with a total of six entries across the Top 40.
Charli XCX’s Speed Drive re-enters the chart at Number 19, becoming Charli’s 14th Top 40 hit. It’s experienced a massive week-on-week uplift of 285%, while also becoming Charli’s first Top 20 single as a lead artist since 1999 with Troye Sivan in 2018.
Ryan Gosling celebrates his first-ever Official UK Top 40 entry with dramatic ballad I’m Just Ken (25), while Lizzo’s bouncy bop Pink makes its debut (39).
And while it technically isn’t a track on the Barbie soundtrack (instead, it’s directly sampled on Barbie World), Aqua’s influential Barbie Girl has re-entered the Top 40 for the first time in 25 years, experiencing week-on-week uplift of 91%. The track reached Number 1 on the Official Singles Chart upon its release in 1997, where it remained for four consecutive weeks, and is one of the best-selling singles in the history of the Official Chart.
