How Greatest Showman soundtrack equalled Adele’s 21 album chart run

The Greatest Showman soundtrack has been number one in the UK charts for the same time as Adele’s record-breaking album 21.

The cast recording of the film has topped the charts for 11 weeks, beating Madonna’s The Immaculate collection and Ed Sheeran’s Divide.

But how did an album of showtunes beat some of the world’s most successful artists over the past three decades?

For those who have not seen it, the film is about 19th Century circus entrepreneur PT Barnum, played by Hugh Jackman, gathering together a host of outcasts who wow the crowds to earn him the big bucks.

The film itself was not the box office success its producers had hoped for on its opening weekend, raking in a relatively moderate $8.8m (£6.2m) in the US just before Christmas and £2.5m after Christmas in the UK.

However, like PT Barnum’s circus, it was a slow burner and ticket sales increased over its first three weeks in cinemas and, unusually, managed to stay steady after that – even grabbing the UK’s top spot in its sixth week, in February.

The only other December release to top the chart in February is Titanic, the second highest grossing film of all time.

The soundtrack was an immediate success, shooting straight to number one on iTunes in 75 countries, including the UK, the US and Australia.

This Is Me, sung by Broadway artist Keala Settle, who plays a bearded lady, is one of the album’s big hitters.

Written by La La Land songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, as all the songs are, This Is Me won best original song at the Golden Globes and was nominated for an Oscar.

Disney graduates Zac Efron and Zendaya have also been drawing listeners in with their powerful duet, Rewrite the Stars.

Music critics have put the album’s success down to the feel-good, uplifting pop tunes which are also old school at the same time.

It is also the first original musical film in 20 years.

George Simpson, entertainment reporter at Express.co.uk, said the introduction of sing-along showings has really boosted the album’s popularity.

He told Sky News: “The film came out on Boxing Day and it had a terrible opening week. I went along as I thought it looked fun in the limbo period – it was ok, reviews weren’t very good.

“I thought it was a solid three star and kind of just forgot about it but suddenly it exploded at the box office in the UK and the US because of word of mouth, the good old fashioned way.

“One of the reasons its been so successful is because it’s winter, people have the January blues, and all that’s on are Oscar-type dramas. People need to take the kids to something.

“It keeps being successful because they introduced sing-along – my mum’s cleaner told me she’s seen it nine times.”

BBC film critic Mark Kermode said the film was “very very poor” but admitted he went to see it again with his children in half term to a sing-along version and everybody loved it.

(c) Sky News 2018: How Greatest Showman soundtrack equalled Adele’s 21 album chart run