No matter how old you are, you’ll surely appreciate these most popular Disney songs of all time we prepared for you. If, by any chance, you are too embarrassed to admit you like them, blame it on your child or some little cousin.
Disney has a habit of including catchy songs in their movies since the dawn of times. And by the dawn of times, we mean Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937 film. That’s the first full-length animated feature film and the earliest in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. If you watched the movie, you would sure remember the tunes like “Someday My Prince Will Come” or “Whistle While You Work”. With that movie, Walt Disney Records started their historical journey of making classic songs that will be sung by kids (and their parents) all over the world. One more interesting historical fact about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is that it was the first movie ever to release a motion picture soundtrack.
This success caused Disney animated movies to became more musicals than actual movies. The dialogs were pushed aside, and songs took the main burden of explaining the storyline. If you watched Frozen, you would know what we’re talking about.
We checked the success of the songs on the Billboard main charts (Hot 100 and 200). We accounted both feature and animated films made by Disney. After we had found 11 most successful ones, we ranked them by YouTube views.
11. When You Wish Upon a Star – Pinocchio
As mentioned in the intro, “When You Wish Upon a Star” was the song that started the Disney Songs award winning spree. Pinocchio was the second animated Disney movie and a box office disaster upon its release. Today, Pinocchio is appreciated as one of the finest animated movies ever made.
YouTube views: 1,964,552
10. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah – Song of the South
The second Disney’s Academy Award for Best Original Song came when movie Song of the South got out. Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah was sung by James Baskett and was a major influence on many artists trough the years. It was also included in AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs list of top tunes in American cinema at number 47.
YouTube views: 4,848,752
9. Life Is a Highway – Cars
Although most of you recognize the song from Disney’s 2006 animated movie Cars, the song was written and recorded fifteen years before by Tom Cochrane and published on his album Mad Mad World. In 2006 Rascal Flatts covered the song for the movie and made it even more popular than before.
YouTube views: 13,469,859
8. Beauty and the Beast — Beauty and the Beast
Alan Menken’s award winning tune that got an Oscar, Grammy and Golden Globe. Celine Dion decided to use the popularity of the song, and recorded a duet with Peabo Bryson, gaining a massive international success reaching No. 9 on Billboard’s Hot 100.
YouTube views: 16,233,722
7. Can You Feel the Love Tonight – The Lion King
Elton John did a great job with the songs for The Lion King, and two made it on our list. The first is Can You Feel the Love Tonight and guess what? The song bagged a number of awards including Academy Award for Best Original Song, Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song and Elton John got himself a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.
YouTube views: 20,594,752
6. Colors of the Wind – Pocahontas
The song speaks about “respecting nature and living in harmony with the Earth’s creatures”. Given the song’s initial success, many artists covered the song, and it can be found in many versions and in many different languages. Because of this, Colors of the Wind remained popular even today and deserved a place on our 11 most popular Disney songs of all time.
YouTube views: 26,469,806
5. All for Love – The Three Musketeers
When you team up Bryan Adams with Rod Stewart and Sting, the success is guaranteed. Although this wasn’t one of the animated classics made by Disney, the movie still had moderate success, but this song from the movie was one of its best moments. All for Love was a massive success, spending three weeks on No. 1 of Billboard’s Hot 100.
YouTube views: 27,848,793
4. Circle of Life – Lion King
We are sure you would boycott the list if this Lion King’s song was skipped. There is no need for harsh words, your beloved Circle of Life is here and it’s song composed by the man itself, Elton John. According to Tim Rice, who wrote the lyrics for the song, Elton John composed the song in an hour and a half. Although it was nominated for Academy Award for Best Original Song, Can You Feel the Love Tonight took home the award.
YouTube views: 32,119,543
3. A Whole New World – Aladdin
Yes, the song was written by Alan Menken and it managed to win all kinds of awards. Moving on. The song talks about the journey Aladdin and Jasmine are taking on Aladdin’s magic carpet to discover the world together. Song had managed to reach No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100, but only stayed on top for one week.
YouTube views: 41,707,236
2. The Climb – Miley Cyrus
Oh, the happy times when you could still let your kid watch Miley Cyrus. Although that time is long gone, this song is a nice reminder that Miley was something of a Disney’s Princess back in the days. The song was featured in Disney’s 2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie and received acclaim from both critics and audience.
YouTube views: 242,091,709
1. Let It Go – Frozen
The journey to find the 11 most popular Disney songs of all time was long, and would have been a lot easier if we had Aladdin’s magic carpet, but we made it to the finish line.We know you are familiar with the song even if you didn’t watch the movie. The song became a massive success and launched a worldwide competition in “who will make the best cover”. Now there are countless versions in many different languages. Did we mention it received an Oscar and a Grammy?
YouTube views: 674,068,421
Source: Insider Monkey
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