Songs from movies that became Number 1 hits

The movie world and the music charts have been close pals since the beginning, and some soundtracks and cast recordings are among the most successful albums of all time.

It's not unusual for a song from a film to break out and become a hit in its own right, and sometimes they can go all the way to the top.

We Don't Talk About Bruno

When We Don't Talk About Bruno hit Number 1 in January 2022, it became the first ever original Disney song to top the Official Singles Chart. Taken from the soundtrack of animated film Encanto, it eventually settled at Number 1 for a blockbuster seven weeks and was one of the official biggest songs of 2022 overall.

Shallow

Not only an Oscar-winning song, this track from A Star is Born from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper gave Gaga her first UK Number 1 song for over eight years, spending two weeks at the top at the end of 2018. To misquote Lady Gaga herself: you can have 100 positions in the Top 100, but it only takes 1 to be a Number 1.

From w/e 20 Dec: Motion Picture Cast Recording - A Star Is Born, 3 weeks

The Writing's on the Wall

Another Oscar winner, Sam Smith caused some slight controversy when they picked up their award for this track from Bond movie SPECTRE and erroneously claimed to be the first "openly gay man" to win an Academy Award. They could take comfort, however, from the fact that Sam was definitely the first artist to have a Number 1 with a Bond theme and, even more bravely, despite not mentioning the title of the movie in the song at all. This 2016 Number 1 has amassed 740,000 combined sales.

Love Me Like You Do

Fifty Shades of Grey was both a literary and cinematic phenomenon. While we couldn't possibly comment on the quality of either book or film, there was no doubt that Ellie Goulding's theme from the movie, created with Max Martin, was a solid gold banger. You agreed too, keeping it at Number 1 for a month in early 2015, with over 1.76 million combined sales.

Happy

Clap along if you remember the film this came from? Released as part of the campaign for the Despicable Me 2 soundtrack – yes, the sequel – Pharrell's joyous earworm took on a life of its own and was soon heading for the record books. Pharrell became one of the few artists to land three separate stints at Number 1 with the same song, and landed his third million-seller within a year. Happy was the biggest song of 2014, and sold over 1.94 million downloads to become the eighth biggest-selling single of all time in the UK.

Independent Women Part 1

Question! Whatever happened to part 2? (Answer: it was on their album.) Anyway, Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle threw their hands up and landed their first ever Number 1 as Destiny's Child with this declaration of independence from the 2000 movie version of Charlie's Angels.

Lady Marmalade

From Moulin Rouge, a version of this song by All Saints had been Number 1 just two years earlier, but that didn't stop Christina Aguilera, Mya, Pink, and Lil Kim ripping up the rulebook – not to mention a hole in their tights – and taking it to the top again in 2000.

My Heart Will Go On

It's 1998. Near, far, whereeeever you are, you have no chance of escape from Céline Dion's mega ballad, from the blockbuster Titanic. A million-seller, one of two for Céline, My Heart Will Go On was Number 1 on two separate occasions – when Céline said she will go on, she meant it.

Men in Black

Every great song needs a dance to go along with it, Will Smith delivered in the middle eight of the theme tune to his alien comedy Men in Black. You remember all the moves, admit it. Will managed to score his first Number 1 in the process, topping the charts for four weeks in summer 1997.

Love is All Around/(Everything I Do) I Do it For You

Think back to the summers of 1991 and 1994 – do you remember where you were? Even if you don't, there's a chance that whatever you were up to was being soundtracked by one of these songs, both from huge hit movies. First came Bryan Adams in 1991, with his Robin Hood theme, which holds the record for the longest consecutive run at Number 1, with 16 weeks at the top. Feels like yesterday. Right behind it in the record books, on 15 weeks, was the theme from Four Weddings and a Funeral from Wet Wet Wet, which dominated the middle of 1994. Not enough credit is given to the songs that deposed them, so thank you to Whigfield's Saturday Night (1994) and U2's The Fly in 1991.

The Shoop Shoop Song

Can it really have taken Cher over 25 years in the music biz to score a Number 1 song all by herself? 'Fraid so, but what a song to do it with. From the Cher-led comedy Mermaids, and with a video featuring Cher acting as a kind of dance teacher/embarrassing auntie at a wedding to her two co-stars Winona Ryder (who looks horrified throughout) and Christina Ricci, The Shoop Shoop Song (It's in His Kiss) ruled the charts for a deserved five weeks in early summer 1991. That's where it is.

Unchained Melody

While not specially recorded for the movie it came from – predating it by 25 years may have been a small factor – Unchained Melody will forever be associated with Ghost. Featuring in what a committee may have decided was a sexy scene – involving a pottery wheel – the Righteous Brothers rereleased Unchained Melody stormed to Number 1 in late 1990 and held firm for four weeks.

Honestly. Subtle.

La Bamba

A cover of a classic to promote a biopic of the late Richie Valens, Los Lobos interestingly knocked another movie theme tune off the top to get to Number 1 – Madonna's Who’s That Girl – managing two weeks there in summer 1987.

Take My Breath Away

In 1986, there was no movie star bigger than Tom Cruise and few films bigger than Top Gun. The Giorgio Moroder-penned Take My Breath Away, performed by Berlin – a band, the German city's residents didn't suddenly get together and release a single – was the film's love theme (it played while the main characters went at it in saucy silhouette) and spent four weeks at Number 1. It was so popular that when Top Gun was premiered on national TV in 1990, the song was rereleased, and reached Number 3.

Into the Groove

The first of two movie chart-toppers for Madonna – Who's That Girl followed in 1987 – this one came from her big movie debut Desperately Seeking Susan and spent a month at the top in summer 1985. It's also her biggest selling single in the UK.

Summer Nights and You're the One That I Want

In 1978, everybody had chills, and they were multiplying – and so were record sales, as te movie version of stage musical Grease was taking over the charts. John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John's You're the One That I Want dominated the chart for most of the summer, spending an astonishing nine weeks at Number 1 and becoming the fifth-biggest selling single of all time, with 2.07 million copies sold. After a month of respite, it was Summer Nights' turn to shine, spending seven weeks at the top, until the distinctly non-summery mid-November. It's sold 1.65 million copies and is in the Top 30 bestsellers. 

Night Fever

1978 was a big year for movies and especially ones starring John Travolta. Months before Grease's chart takeover, the soundtrack to his other starring role in Saturday Night Fever was having a moment. The album spent a whopping 18 consecutive weeks at Number 1 from May 1978, and its centrepiece, the Bee Gees' Night Fever, spent two weeks at the top too.