Behind The Encanto Soundtrack’s Remarkable Rise

We may not be talking about Bruno, but we sure are singing his song, along with all the other music from Disney’s Encanto.

The soundtrack’s stunning trajectory—from a debut at No. 197 on the Billboard 200 album chart in November to its current reign atop that chart for nine consecutive weeks running—is a testament to the power of social platforms, in this case YouTube and TikTok, to catapult an album into the stratosphere in the modern age.

This week the Latin fusion-flavored compilation of earworms from Grammy-, Tony- and Emmy-winning Hamilton tunesmith Lin-Manuel Miranda hit yet another milestone, surpassing the equivalent of 1 million sales in the United States according to MRC, whose tracking data is used to compile Billboard’s charts.

Encanto is one of only two albums to spend at least nine weeks at No. 1 during the past five years. The other is Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album, which spent 10 weeks on top in 2021.

The soundtrack arrived November 19, before the film debuted in US theaters November 24 and then premiered on the Disney+ streaming service December 24. The album first claimed No. 1 on the chart dated January 15, bumping Adele’s 30 from the top spot.

And beginning March 18, Encanto will be the first Disney musical soundtrack to debut as a sing-along special on Disney+. Subscribers have watched the film an average of five times, according to the streaming company, racking up more than 180 million repeat views globally since its debut.

How did the music of Encanto become so charmed? For one, songs including We Don’t Talk About Bruno, Surface Pressure and The Family Madrigal caught early fire on TikTok, where members put their spin on the tunes with dances inspired by Bruno and Surface spiraling, and Madrigal in heavy rotation as the background to videos featuring kids unboxing toys. To date, songs tagged #wedonttalkaboutbruno have received more than 3.5 billion views on the platform.

The power of user-generated content cannot be denied in 2022 . But a peak behind the curtain of the soundtrack’s journey on YouTube reveals lessons about the way music companies should be thinking about servicing and working with platforms as they release music of all genres.

The YouTube Factor

Let’s start with some stats. We Don’t Talk About Bruno has amassed more than 650 million views globally across YouTube. For the week of March 6, Bruno was the top overall song on YouTube across YouTube Music, Official Artist Channel streams and User Generated Content streams for the ninth consecutive week, while The Family Madrigal sat at No. 4. The two songs held those same spots for the platform’s most-played videos for the week.

Disney Music initially serviced Bruno to YouTube in mid-November via two audio-only versions, one with the full song and one instrumental. A lyric video and official music video arrived in late December.

Having worked across Frozen, Coco and other Disney Music properties, “we know how powerful the combination of great music and incredible storytelling can be,” says Noah Rakoski, YouTube label relations manager.

Immediate support on the platform included marketing and promotion of the film and soundtrack within the YouTube Music ecosystem, a billboard erected in Miami the day of the movie’s release and social promotion across YouTube’s handles. “We have continued to support the release in different ways since the initial launch by including new songs and videos on YouTube.com/Music, which has over 115 million subscribers, and much more,” Rakoski says.

As the soundtrack and Bruno started to soar, Disney delivered more. “They uploaded a really fun multi-language rendition which features the song in 21 languages, and a ‘choreography’ version featuring the real-life dancers that animators transformed for the film,” says Kevin Meenan, YouTube Music Trends Manager. “They have also uploaded versions of the song in languages like Spanish, Italian and French across their regional channels.” All told, there are more than a dozen Disney YouTube videos for the song.

This multi-video strategy “is one more and more artists have embraced, with each serving as a touchpoint for fans to be introduced to or reconnect with the song in a new way,” Meenan says.

Of course, user-generated content is a huge part of the YouTube story as well. To help prime the pump, Disney created both long-form videos as well as shorter, snacks content.

“Working together to ensure that the content being created and released will reach the intended fans from a global perspective is paramount,” Rakoski says. “For YouTube Music specifically, creating both long- and short-form content as YouTube Shorts and Official Music Videos, as Disney Music did with Encanto, are key tools for audience engagement and global success.

“Both the official material from Disney, as well as the fan created clips, have been key elements of contextualizing the story,” says Karen Lieberman, VP of sales & digital at Disney Music Group. “Allowing for the easy discovery of the official videos has allowed for so many people to know the story, but then the real magic happens when users see themselves in that story. Whether it’s the diverse representation or the relatable family dynamics, seeing fans create using Encanto music has been truly fantastic.”

Lieberman says Disney Music for several years has been looking to YouTube to complement storytelling efforts “with the understanding that a great deal of the discovery of music from our films and shows can come from the YouTube audience. One great learning from Encanto is that if fans are liking what they are seeing, we need to do our best to give them more of it. Whether it’s singalongs, live performances, choreography, or alternate cuts of the videos…doubling down on what is being received well is always a win.”

We Don’t Talk About Bruno and Surface Pressure, specifically, were songs “that raised their hands with their catchy visuals, lyrics and melodies—which all lend to video viewing and fan-generated content, both in long and short form format,” Rakowski says. “When we see users recreating and engaging with content, as we did here, that is often an indicator that it will continue to grow and proliferate across the platform.”

From a trends point of view, Meenan says YouTube has its eye on two metrics: the overall views trajectory and how the track is performing across multiple markets. “So, is this a regional hit or something truly cutting through globally. Beyond that, with breakout hits we also tend to see some strong engagement from the wider creator community via their own uploads as Noah mentioned and like those we highlighted earlier—everything from reaction videos to covers to multi-layered memes.”

With a bonafide smash in its pocket with Encanto, look for Disney Music to amp the clips from “key music” it services to the Shorts library, which encourages users to make it their own, Lieberman says. “We have also been building some playlists that purely consist of content—full videos or shorts—to feature on our official channel. There are so many creative and talented folks out there. We see that and want to celebrate it,” she says.