Apparently, we're talking about Bruno now, as this week saw the rise of Disney’s Encanto soundtrack as it made its way to the top of the Billboard charts. The soundtrack for the beloved animated film has reached number one on Billboard’s Top 200 chart, a spot previously held by Adele’s album 30, which sat in the tope spot for six weeks.
Despite Disney’s influence and the rise of movie musicals, it’s not common to see soundtrack albums rank high on the Billboard charts. Encanto is the first soundtrack album to reach number one on the Billboard charts in two years. The last soundtrack album to do so was another Disney film. Frozen 2, in 2019, which in turn, was the only soundtrack to reach the top spot since its predecessor Frozen in 2014. Encanto has been consistently climbing the chart since its debut, resting at spot number six just last week.
Encanto also made waves on the Billboard Hot 100, which focuses more on singles than full albums, with the film’s breakout earworm "We Don’t Talk About Bruno" currently resting at number five on the chart. Having climbed its way from number fifty, the song, composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda has truly taken over social media, namely TikTok, where a portion of the song has become a viral sound. Even a casual user wouldn’t be too hard pressed to find cosplayers, artists, and general user using the clip in their videos, and as of this article, "We Don’t Talk About Bruno" is featured in nearly 150,000 videos.
But despite the major success of the song amongst fans, "We Don’t Talk About Bruno" was not submitted for Best Original Song as a part of Encanto’s awards campaign. Instead, Disney is submitting "Dos Oruguitas", a slower, more heartfelt (and heartbreaking) song also written by Miranda, one of nine the Hamilton composer wrote for the film and which made the Academy Awards' shortlist for potential Best Original Song nominees.
"We Don’t Talk About Bruno" is not the only single from the album to sit on the Billboard chart either. Currently, "Surface Pressure" rests not far behind at number fourteen, "The Family Madrigal" sits at number sixty-two, and "What Else Can I Do?" sits at number sixty-seven. "Waiting on a Miracle" and "Dos Oruguitas" round out the bottom spots, at numbers eighty-two and eighty-three respectively. Oscar nominations will be announced February 8, with the awards taking place March 27, and despite the internet clearly claiming its favorite song from the soundtrack, there’s the chance Disney could pull a Best Original Song award, as Encanto’s soundtrack rests easily on top.
Encanto is streaming on Disney+ now.