New Study Finds Our 5 Favorite Disney Songs EVER
I was thinking about what my favorite of all the Disney songs was, there are a lot of them. I asked my wife, Kathleen, but I already knew it was “Under the Sea” which landed at number 10 on this list. After much thought, I think mine is “Hakuna Matata,” which landed at 6. A couple of other of my faves include “You’ve Got a Friend in Me,” from Toy Story and “You’ll Be in My Heart,” from Tarzan.
The theatre tickets company SeatPlan collected data and looked at the top 1,000 playlists featuring the word “Disney” in the title on Spotify using the tool Spotify Playlist Miner and saw which Disney songs appeared most frequently across the lists. The calculator Music Gateway determines how much money the top Disney songs have made from the number of global streams on Spotify.
The Number 1 Streamed Disney Song
The research found that Moana’s “You’re Welcome” is the most popular song after being streamed over 538 million times.
The song is sung by Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who plays Maui, and has over 1.6 billion YouTube views too. Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote the song after researching the rich history of the demigod Maui’s perception and said that he was initially worried about whether The Rock would be willing to sing for the role.
Tied for second is another Moana song, “How Far I’ll Go,” and Frozen’s, “Let It Go.” Both were featured in 288 playlists, with a combined total of more than 1.3 billion global streams.
“How Fare I’ll Go” is sung by Auli’i Cravalho, and is the most streamed song from the soundtrack, with over 595 million streams. Alessia Cara’s pop version has over 734 million streams.
Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go”, has been played over 742 million times on Spotify and is the Disney song most streamed globally.
Landing in the third spot is The Lion King’s “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” sung by Jason Weaver, Rowan Atkinson, and Laura Williams. It was featured in 276 playlists and had 290 million streams.
This year, The Lion King celebrates its 30th anniversary and the original soundtrack has over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify.
Coming in fourth place is “I’ll Make a Man Out of You”, sung by Donny Osmond on the original Mulan soundtrack. The Disney song has been streamed over 319 million times.
Osmond sang it after he was rejected from Hercules because he sounded too old. He was cast to sing Shang’s song because his singing voice sounded like Shang’s voice actor, BD Wong.
The fifth most popular is another song from Frozen, sung by Kristen Bell, Love Is an Open Door appeared in 263 playlists, and has been streamed over 362 million times.
According to husband and wife songwriters Robert and Kristen Lopez, it was intended to sound like the “perfect first date.”
Rounding out the top 10 are “Hakuna Matata,” “Into the Unknown,” “Do You Want to Build a Snowman,” “When Will My Life Begin” and “For the First Time in Forever,” and “Under the Sea” at number 10.
7 Of The Coolest Disney Legends Honored This Year
This year’s Disney Legends have been crowned this week. D23 announced the 2024 honorees via a press release on Tuesday (March 19). The official ceremony is set for Sunday, August 11th, at 5 p.m., with Ryan Seacrest set to host the fan event. Per the release, the event “honors artists and visionaries throughout the company’s history who have pushed the envelope of creativity, challenged conventional wisdom, and broken the restraints of the status quo in search of new possibilities and excellence.”
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The ceremony will feature tributes to each of the fourteen honorees, along with special guests and performances. Disney CEO Bob Iger said, “To be named a Disney Legend is the highest honor our company can bestow on anyone, reserved for those whose talent and achievement have earned them an enduring place in our history.” The Legends have been bestowed for 37 years, and each honoree will receive a two-foot-tall bronze Disney Legends sculpture. They will also participate in a handprint ceremony at the end of the event.
One honoree, Martha Blanding, was the first permanent full-time Black Tour Guide. She quickly climbed the ladder to become a VIP Hostess, and later became the first-ever Black woman in management at Disneyland as an expert merchandise, candy, and film buyer for 16 years, and later became the senior manager of Disneyland Resort Merchandise Special Events. Adding to the many “firsts” during her career before retiring in 2022, Martha was the first Black Cast Member to commemorate 50 years with the Disneyland Resort, and now becomes the first Black Disney Parks employee designated a Disney Legend.
Including this year’s honorees, a total of 318 Disney Legends have been named. Past Disney Legends include Tim Allen, Dame Julie Andrews, Kristen Bell, Robert Downey Jr., Annette Funicello, Whoopi Goldberg, Sir Elton John, Dame Angela Lansbury, George Lucas, Steve Martin, Alan Menken, Hayley Mills, Fess Parker, Ellen Pompeo, Robin Roberts, Marty Sklar, Dick Van Dyke, Barbara Walters, Ming-Na Wen, Betty White, and Robin Williams, among many others.
Keep scrolling to see who the seven highlighted Disney Legends of 2024 are.
The Disney Legends:
