‘Little Mermaid’ Tops Soundtracks Chart, Swims Past Peak of Original Album on Billboard 200

The soundtrack to the new live action The Little Mermaid film jumps 4-1 on Billboard’s Soundtracks chart (dated June 10), while also surging 103-21 on the overall Billboard 200 chart. On the latter tally, the new set swims past the peak of the original soundtrack to the 1989 animated The Little Mermaid, which topped out at No. 32 in 1990.

The new album earned 22,000 equivalent album units in the United States in the week ending June 1 (up 174%), according to Luminate.

The Little Mermaid’s coronation on the Soundtracks chart is the latest live-action remake of a Disney animated classic to lead the tally. Previously, the companion albums to Aladdin (in 2019), The Lion King (The Lion King: The Gift, credited to Beyoncé and various artists; also in 2019), Beauty and the Beast (2017) and Alice in Wonderland (2010).

The new Little Mermaid soundtrack features new renditions of familiar classics (such as “Part of Your World,” the Academy Award-winning “Under the Sea,” “Poor Unfortunate Souls” and “Kiss the Girl”) as performed by the cast members, along with a few newly penned tunes.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. Billboard’s Soundtracks chart ranks the most popular soundtracks of the week based on equivalent album units.