Disney's High School Musical 2 Soundtrack Debuts at No 1 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, a First for a TV Movie Soundtrack

BURBANK, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Walt Disney Records) - Disney's High School Musical 2 soundtrack rewrites chart history this week with its spectacular debut at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart, based on sales of 615,000 copies, the second highest one-week total for an album this year. In its first week, it also certified Gold in Ireland, the UK, Canada, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia.

The feat comes just five days after the premiere of Disney Channel�s Original Movie High School Musical 2 made history as the most-watched basic cable telecast of all time among Total Viewers (17.2 million strong) as well as the most-watched TV telecast ever in Kids 6-11, and most-watched entertainment telecast ever in Tweens 9-14. Impressively, High School Musical 2 was TV�s most-watched Friday telecast in more than 5 years and was the No 1 telecast of the week in Total Viewers across all TV.

Last year, the soundtrack to the first High School Musical TV movie spent two non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, and was the first television movie soundtrack to reach the top spot. High School Musical 2 goes its predecessor one better by becoming the first television soundtrack to ever debut at No. 1. The soundtrack also enters three other Billboard charts at No. 1: Top Soundtrack Albums, Top Kid Audio, and Top Digital Albums.

High School Musical 2 has a lot to live up to, and is proving more than equal to the task. The quadruple-platinum first soundtrack was the best-selling album of 2006 according to Nielsen SoundScan, and the 615,000 copies old of High School Musical 2 in its first week indicate this second soundtrack is a leading candidate to be the best-selling album of 2007, and surpass the quadruple-platinum status of the earlier CD. In its first week, High School Musical 2 has shipped double platinum; the first soundtrack went double-platinum in just under three months.

The first High School Musical soundtrack has sold seven million copies worldwide, and was ranked the No 1 top selling album of 2006 by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI represents the recording industry worldwide.)