“We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” from Disney’s Encanto, makes a magical move to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart.
The ensemble song – by Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast – rises from the Hot 100’s runner-up spot and becomes just the second No. 1 ever from a Disney animated film.
“Bruno” also marks the first Hot 100 leader for the song’s sole writer, Lin-Manuel Miranda. He and Mike Elizondo co-produced it and earn their first and second trips to No. 1, respectively, in those roles.
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data. All charts (dated Feb. 5, 2022) will update on Billboard.com tomorrow (Feb. 1). For all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Let’s talk, a lot, about “Bruno,” which becomes the Hot 100’s 1,133rd No. 1 over the chart’s 63-year history.
Streams, airplay & sales: “Bruno” drew 34.9 million U.S. streams (up 8%) and 1.5 million radio airplay audience impressions (up 239%) and sold 12,300 downloads (up 32%, aided by 69-cent discount pricing in the iTunes Store, good for the Hot 100’s top Sales Gainer award) in the Jan. 21-27 tracking week, according to MRC Data.
The track tops the Streaming Songs chart for a fourth week and ranks at No. 3 on Digital Song Sales, a week after it reached the summit.
“Bruno” rules the Hot 100 in its fifth week on the chart, after it debuted at No. 50 on the Jan. 8 survey. Encanto arrived Dec. 24 on the Disney+ streaming service, after it premiered in U.S. theaters Nov. 24.
‘World’ Meets ‘Bruno’: “Bruno” becomes only the second Hot 100 No. 1 from a Disney animated film. It follows Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle’s Aladdin theme “A Whole New World,” which topped the March 6, 1993, chart.
“Bruno” was released on Walt Disney Records, while “World” was released on Columbia Records. That leads, in part, to …
Disney domination: “Bruno” marks the first Hot 100 No. 1 for Walt Disney Records. (The label formed in 1956, just before the Hot 100 began in 1958.)
Prior to “Bruno,” another collaborative song represented Walt Disney Records’ highest Hot 100 rank: “Breaking Free,” by Zac Efron, Andrew Seeley and Vanessa Anne Hudgens, from High School Musical, hit No. 4 on the Feb. 11, 2006, chart. The label has also reached the top five via Idina Menzel’s “Let It Go,” from Frozen (No. 5, 2014).
(The Disney Music Group, which includes the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records labels, notched one prior Hot 100 No. 1: the latter label’s “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s led for two weeks in 2007.)
“The [Encanto] rollout began with a fantastic film, incredible music and a strong marketing campaign,” Disney Music Group president Ken Bunt recently told Billboard, adding that one reason he feels that “Bruno,” specifically, has connected is that it “includes the entire Family Madrigal, which reflects the dynamics of so many families.”
Soundtrack & song both No. 1: As “Bruno” crowns the Hot 100, its parent album, the Encanto soundtrack, tops the Billboard 200 albums chart for a third week, up 11% to 115,000 equivalent album units, its best weekly total so far.
Notably, the Aladdin soundtrack, from which “A Whole New World” was released, peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard 200, in February 1993. Thus, this week marks the first frame that a soundtrack to a Disney animated movie and one of its songs simultaneously lead the Billboard 200 and Hot 100, respectively.
Until this week, no soundtrack and corresponding song at all had led the charts simultaneously since A Star Is Born and Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper’s “Shallow” ruled the respective rankings dated March 9, 2019.
Lin-Manel leads: “Bruno” was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who achieves his first No. 1 writing credit on the Hot 100. The Emmy, Grammy and Tony Award winner, among numerous other honors, previously reached a No. 20 best in October 2017 as both a recording artist and writer thanks to “Almost Like Praying,” his charity single featuring Artists for Puerto Rico.
“It’s been really amazing because ensemble numbers don’t usually get this kind of love,” Miranda mused of “Bruno” on Billboard‘s latest Pop Shop Podcast. “My job is to raise my hand and let this room of animators and incredibly creative people know what music can do.”
Single writer on a No. 1 single: As Miranda wrote “Bruno” solo, the song is the first Hot 100 No. 1 by only one writer in over four years, since Ed Sheeran’s self-penned “Perfect” wrapped its six-week reign in January 2018.
In a topic that received renewed attention last week, “Bruno,” thus, the first No. 1 of the 2020s by a single writer, follows four in the ’10s and nine in the ’00s (as such songs have plummeted in prominence atop the Hot 100 dating back even further).
Elizondo’s second No. 1: Miranda and Mike Elizondo co-produced “Bruno.” Miranda earns his first Hot 100 No. 1 as a producer, among two top 10s (joined by Encanto‘s “Surface Pressure”; see below), while Elizondo adds his second No. 1, nearly 19 years after his first: he and Dr. Dre co-produced 50 Cent’s “In Da Club,” which reigned for nine weeks beginning in March 2003.
Thanks to “Bruno” and “Surface Pressure,” Elizondo has upped his count to eight Hot 100 top 10s as a producer. Prior to Encanto, he had last ranked in the tier as a producer in 2016 via two No. 2 hits by twenty one pilots, “Stressed Out” and “Heathens.”
Most credited artists on a No. 1: While one person wrote “Bruno,” the song, conversely, sets the record for the most credited recording artists ever on a Hot 100 No. 1.
The billing of Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz and the Encanto Cast outpaces the quintet of DJ Khaled featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne, whose “I’m the One” topped the May 20, 2017, chart.
(Notably, the superstar-infused “We Are the World,” which topped the Hot 100 for four weeks in 1985, was billed as by USA for Africa.)
Gaitán, Castillo, Adassa, Feliz, Guerrero and Beatriz each lead the Hot 100 for the first time. They voice Encanto characters, and Madrigal family members, Pepa, Félix, Dolores, Camilo, Isabela and Mirabel, respectively.
As for Bruno …
‘Encanto’ enchants the top 40 & beyond: John Leguizamo voices Encanto‘s Bruno Madrigal. While his character is the subject of the Hot 100’s new No. 1 but he’s not one of its singers, the acclaimed (and socially-conscious) veteran actor is scaling the chart with his first entry thanks to another Encanto song, “All of You.”
Seven Encanto tracks, all written solely by Miranda and produced by Miranda and Elizondo, place on the Feb. 5 Hot 100, and all reach new highs:
No. 1, “We Don’t Talk About Bruno,” Carolina Gaitán, Mauro Castillo, Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz, Diane Guerrero, Stephanie Beatriz & Encanto Cast
No. 9, “Surface Pressure,” Jessica Darrow
No. 20, “The Family Madrigal,” Beatriz, Olga Merediz & Encanto Cast
No. 27, “What Else Can I Do?,” Guerrero & Beatriz
No. 36, “Dos Oruguitas,” Sebastián Yatra (up from No. 44, as the song, shortlisted for a best original song Oscar nomination, brings Yatra to the Hot 100’s top 40 in his first appearance on the chart)
No. 48, “Waiting On a Miracle,” Beatriz
No. 82, “All of You,” Beatriz, Merediz, John Leguizamo, Adassa, Maluma & Encanto Cast
Just as “A Whole New World” dethroned a long-leading ballad (Whitney Houston’s 14-week No. 1 “I Will Always Love You”) atop the Hot 100, “Bruno” succeeds Adele’s “Easy on Me,” which ranks at No. 2 after 10 weeks on top. Still, “Easy” tops the Radio Songs chart for a 10th week (94.6 million, down 1%) and drew 14.1 million streams (down 2%) and sold 5,200 downloads (up 1%) in the tracking week.
The songs at Nos. 3 through 8 on the Hot 100 all maintain their ranks from a week earlier, led by Glass Animals’ “Heat Waves.” The track, which holds at its best rank, also tops the Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Hot Alternative Songs charts, both of which use the same multi-metric methodology as the Hot 100, for a 19th week each.
The Kid LAROI and Justin Bieber’s “Stay” keeps at No. 4 on the Hot 100 after seven weeks at No. 1 and Kodak Black’s “Super Gremlin” repeats at its No. 5 high, as it leads the multi-metric Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot Rap Songs charts for a third week each.
Ed Sheeran’s “Shivers” is steady at No. 6 on the Hot 100 after hitting No. 4; Gunna and Future’s “Pushin P,” featuring Young Thug, remains at its No. 7 best; and GAYLE’s “abcdefu” holds at its No. 8 high, as it claims the chart’s top Airplay Gainer nod (37.9 million, up 27%).
Encanto‘s “Surface Pressure” by Jessica Darrow, who voices the film’s Luisa Madrigal, rises 10-9 for a new Hot 100 highpoint, swapping spots with Elton John and Dua Lipa’s “Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)” (9-10), after the latter reached No. 7. Meanwhile, John expands his span of top 10s to 51 years and two weeks, dating to his first appearance in the top 10 with “Your Song” (Jan. 23, 1971), the longest such stretch among all acts not involving holiday songs. “Cold Heart” also tops the multi-metric Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for a 16th week.
Again, for all chart news, you can follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram and all charts (dated Feb. 5), including the Hot 100 in its entirety, will refresh on Billboard.com tomorrow (Feb. 1).
MRC Data, the independent data provider to the Billboard charts, completes an exhaustive and thorough review of all data submissions used in compiling weekly chart rankings. MRC Data reviews and authenticates data, removing any suspicious or unverifiable activity using established criteria before final chart calculations are made and published. In partnership with Billboard, data deemed suspicious and unverifiable is disqualified prior to final calculations.
