This Barbie is a certified box office smash – and has dominated the UK singles charts, too. That’s because five of the tracks from the Barbie film soundtrack have secured a Top 5 place, setting a UK chart record.
According to the Official Charts Company, Barbie: The Album – which was helmed by producer Mark Ronson – is the first film soundtrack in UK history to land three singles in the Top 5.
An impressive add-on to this chart success is the fact the three best-performing singles cover a range of different genres, even if they’re all tinged in that distinctive pink glow: the hushed Billie Eilish track ‘What Was I Made For’ (3), Dua Lipa’s disco-inflected ‘Dance The Night’ (4) and Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice’s ‘Barbie World’ (5), which also features Aqua by interpolating their classic ‘Barbie Girl’ hit.
All three of those tracks were released prior to the film’s theatrical release, but were rather inevitably given a big boost once Barbie arrived in cinemas.
‘What Was I Made For’ rose seven places, for instance, with a 71% uplift in chart units compared to the week prior, when it debuted at Number 10; ‘Dance The Night’ moved up eleven places (an 86% uplift); and the 115% uplift for ‘Barbie World’ compared to the week prior gave Aqua their first UK Top 5 in 25 years and gave Ice Spice’s first, and Nicki Minaj’s 15th Official Top 10 entry.
Since its release, Barbie has continued to bring in people and the numbers to the screen, grossing $256.6 million (£199 million) at the box office during its first week.
This was set against a mammoth ‘Barbenheimer’ weekend at the screens, in which the pink world of Barbieland was up against the very real world of physics and nuclear explosions in Christopher Nolan’s epic Oppenheimer film.
Dua Lipa’s ‘Dance The Night’ rose eleven places week-on-week. Photo credit: Tyrell Hampton.
The success of Barbie has since persuaded the doll’s toy company creators Mattel to start drawing-up plans for a whole Barbie cinematic universe, meaning perhaps there’ll be a lot more reworked Barbie tunes to come.
In our four-star review of the Barbie soundtrack, whynow’s review wrote: “The Barbie album is a checklist for pop talent, but it’s very timely.
“The cultural moment encapsulated in it feels so distinctly current, with breakthrough stars like Ice Spice, PinkPantheress, Gayle and The Kid Laroi at peak potential, and household names like Lizzo, Billie Eilish, Charli XCX all omnipresent.
“This means it could soon feel dated, but that’s far from a bad thing. Instead, the Barbie album has provided a ready-made slice of – to coin a Dua Lipa phrase – future nostalgia for those returning to the film and the album in years to come.”
