Barbie the Album

On May 25, 2023, Rolling Stone reported that the Barbie soundtrack would be produced by Mark Ronson and would feature original songs by Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Haim, Ice Spice, Kaliii, Karol G, Khalid, the Kid Laroi, Lizzo, Nicki Minaj, PinkPantheress, Tame Impala, and cast members Dua Lipa and Ryan Gosling, with additional surprise artists being revealed at a later date. That evening, the soundtrack's partial tracklist was released. On July 6, 2023, Billie Eilish was announced as the soundtrack's first surprise artist. On July 10, Sam Smith was announced as the soundtrack's second surprise artist. ==Production==

Before signing on to the Barbie project, producer Mark Ronson received a text message from his friend, Barbie music supervisor George Drakoulias, that simply stated, "Barbie?" Before Barbie rehearsals could begin in two weeks' time, director Greta Gerwig needed a disco song that would form the basis of highly choreographed dance number. She sent Ronson a playlist of what she had in mind for the soundtrack—"guilty pleasure music" or "Peloton pop"—including songs from Andrea True Connection and Xanadu. Ronson and colleague Andrew Wyatt created a backing track that Gerwig loved and used for the cast's dance rehearsals. This song would later become "Dance the Night" by Dua Lipa. Over the course of a year, Ronson was tasked with curating a soundtrack that matched Gerwig's vision for Barbie. Gerwig and Ronson made a "wish list" of artists they wanted on the soundtrack, and as the film was being edited in post-production, they would show scenes from the film to these artists. However, actress Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, reportedly begged Gerwig to include the song in the film, and Gerwig assured Robbie that she would find a way to incorporate the song in "a cool way." ==Release==

Barbie the Album was released on July 21, 2023. In addition to several variants of vinyl records and cassette tapes offered on the soundtrack's official website, the album was also released in exclusive colors and designs for Target, Walmart, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Hot Topic, and Urban Outfitters. Ahead of the soundtrack's release, official listening parties were held at select record stores in the United States, Latin America, Asia, Australia, and Europe on July 18. Singles On May 22, 2023, English-Albanian singer Dua Lipa announced that her single "Dance the Night" would be released at midnight on Friday May 26 BST. The accompanying music video was also released that day and included a cameo by Gerwig. Ronson shared a screenshot of a direct message he sent to Lipa on Instagram in 2022, asking her to co-write and perform a song on the soundtrack for a "huge 60-person dance number", which would later become "Dance the Night". "Dance the Night" peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the US Billboard Hot 100. The following week on June 2, Colombian singer Karol G released the soundtrack's first promotional single "Watati". Rolling Stone reported that Karol G had visited Ronson's studio to watch scenes from the film on April 15, 2023, the same day she performed on Saturday Night Live. "Watati" charted in Spain and various Latin American countries, peaking at number two in Panama and number four in Honduras. The soundtrack's second single, "Angel" by English singer PinkPantheress, was released one week later on June 9, and serviced to Italian radio stations the same day. On June 10, Trinidadian rapper Nicki Minaj and American rapper Ice Spice announced that their single "Barbie World" would be released on June 23. The music video, which featured Barbie likenesses of Minaj and Ice Spice, was also released on June 23. "Barbie World" debuted at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at number four on the UK Singles Chart. English singer Charli XCX released "Speed Drive" on June 29, which was serviced to Italian radio on June 30 as the soundtrack's fourth single. The song peaked at number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. On July 6, South Korean girl group Fifty Fifty released the soundtrack's second promotional single, "Barbie Dreams" featuring American rapper Kaliii. American singer Billie Eilish was revealed to be the first surprise artist of the soundtrack on July 6. That day, she announced that her song "What Was I Made For?" and its accompanying music video would be released as the soundtrack's fifth single on July 13. Eilish teased the single in a July 12 tweet previewing the music video. "What Was I Made For?" peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the UK Singles Chart. The second surprise artist of the soundtrack was revealed to be English singer Sam Smith on July 10. Their song "Man I Am" was released alongside the album as its third promotional single on July 21, peaking at number 58 on the UK Singles Chart. On July 28, "Choose Your Fighter" by American singer Ava Max was serviced to Italian radio as the sixth single from the soundtrack, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 90. Best Weekend Ever Edition On the same day as the soundtrack's release, a cover of Indigo Girls' "Closer to Fine" performed by Brandi Carlile and her wife Catherine Carlile and a cover of Matchbox Twenty's "Push" performed by Ryan Gosling were released as part of the deluxe edition of the soundtrack, titled Best Weekend Ever Edition. ==Commercial performance==

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number one on the Official Compilations Chart and had six songs enter the Top 40 on the Official Singles Chart. It also become the first soundtrack album to have three songs on the Top 5 of the Singles Charts simultaneously: "What Was I Made For?" (3), "Dance the Night" (4), and "Barbie World" (5). In the United States, the album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 in the issue dated August 5, 2023. The album opened with 126,000 album-equivalent units, of which 70,000 were streaming equivalent album, 53,000 were pure album sales, and 3,000 were track equivalent album. ==Critical reception==

Barbie the Album received a score of 69 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 13 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reception. Tomás Mier of Rolling Stone stated that Khalid's "Silver Platter" and The Kid Laroi's "Forever & Again" "felt out of place on the record and [didn't] enhance the LP’s Kendom portion." Madeline Roth of The Daily Beast wrote, "It's not as excellent or as fine-tuned as it could have been, thanks to a few busted interlopers, but there’s plenty to enjoy as the Summer of Barbie rages on." Alex Rigotti of NME wrote, "The soundtrack has some wonderful highs and some miserable lows – but then again, it’s not all rosy in Barbie Land." In September, Rolling Stone listed the soundtrack as one of the best albums of 2023 so far. It was later included among the 101 Greatest Soundtracks of All Time by Rolling Stone in 2024. ==Accolades==

Notes • "Barbie World" contains a sample of "Barbie Girl" (1997), written by Søren Rasted, Claus Norreen, René Dif and Lene Nystrøm, and performed by Aqua. • "Speed Drive" contains an interpolation of "Mickey" (1981), written by Michael Chapman and Nicholas Chinn, as performed by Toni Basil; and an interpolation of "Cobrastyle" (2006), written by Klas Åhlund, Joakim Åhlund, Patrick Arve, Ewart Brown, Fabian Torsson, Troy Rami, Paul Rota, David Parker and Sylvia Robinson, as performed by Robyn; which itself is a cover of "Cobrastyle" (2004) as performed by Teddybears featuring Mad Cobra. • "Watati" is misspelled as "Watiti" on the first edition vinyl back covers. • "Butterflies" contains an interpolation of "Butterfly" (2000), written by Seth Binzer and Bret Mazur, as performed by Crazy Town; which itself is based on a sample of "Pretty Little Ditty" (1989), written by Anthony Kiedis, Chad Smith, John Frusciante and Michael Balzary, as performed by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. • "Barbie Dreams" contains an interpolation of "Together Again" (1997), written by Janet Jackson, Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis and René Elizondo Jr., as performed by Jackson. • "Push" is a cover of the 1996 song by Matchbox Twenty. • "Closer to Fine" is a cover of the 1989 song by the Indigo Girls. • "Barbie Dreams" is not included on select versions of the physical album. ==Personnel==

All credits are adapted from CD liner notes. • Mark Ronson – soundtrack album producer, bass (1, 8–9), guitar (1–2), synths (1, 8–9), orchestral arrangement (1, 11), Fender Rhodes (track 2), additional production (track 11) • Kevin Weaver – soundtrack album producer, piano (track 1), synths (track 1), orchestral arrangement (track 1) • Brandon Davis – soundtrack album producer • Greta Gerwig – soundtrack album executive producer • George Drakoulias – soundtrack album executive producer • Brandon Creed – soundtrack album co-producer • Joseph Khoury – soundtrack album co-producer • Randy Merrill – mastering • Questlove – drums (track 1) • Aaron Draper – percussion (track 1) • Andrew Wyatt – piano (track 1), synths (1–2, 8), bass (track 2), background vocals (track 8), choir arrangement (track 8), additional production (track 11), orchestral arrangement (track 11) • Dave Guy – trumpet (track 1) • Michael Leonhart – trumpet (track 1) • Ray Mason – trombone (track 1) • Ian Hendrickson-Smith – saxophone (track 1) • MJ Buckley – saxophone (track 1) • Ricky Reed – drum programming (1, 6), Moog Bass (track 1), piano (track 6), synths (track 6), guitar (track 6) • Matt Dunkley – orchestral arrangement (1, 8) • Daniel Escobar – engineering (track 1) • Ethan Shumaker – engineering (1, 6) • Jens Jungkurth – engineering (track 1) • Manny Marroquin – mixing (1, 4, 6, 10, 12) • Manhattan Center Orchestra – orchestra (1–2, 8) • Cameron Gower-Poole – vocal production (track 2), engineering (track 2) • Caroline Ailin – background vocals (track 2) • Picard Brothers – keyboards (track 2), programming (track 2), additional production (track 8) • Brandon Bost – programming (2, 8), engineering (2, 8–9) • Jake Ferguson – assistant engineering (2, 8–9) • Serban Ghenea – mixing (2–3, 16) • Bryce Bordone – assistant mix engineering (2–3, 16) • Aubry "Big Juice" Delaine – additional production (track 3), Nicki Minaj vocal engineer (track 3) • Rob Kinelski – mixing (5, 11) • Eli Heisler – assistant mixing (5, 11) • David Odlum – Sam Smith vocal engineer (track 6) • Kevin Parker – recording (track 7), mixing (track 7) • Slash – lead guitar (track 8), rhythm guitar (track 8) • Wolfgang Van Halen – rhythm guitar (track 8) • Josh Freese – drums (track 8) • Mike Richiuti – piano (track 8) • Roger Manning – synths (track 8) • Geoff Foster – male choir recording engineer (track 8) • Peter Cobbin – scoring engineer (track 8), female choir (track 8) • Kirsty Whalley – scoring engineer (track 8), female choir (track 8) • Daniel Hayden – Pro Tools recording (track 8) • Alex Venguer – USA Orchestra recording (track 8), piano recording engineer (track 8) • Ben Parry – choirmaster (track 8) • Ricky Damian – engineering (track 8) • Mike Clink – Slash recording (track 8) • Tom Elmhirst – mixing (8–9) • Adam Hong – engineer for mix (8–9) • Abbey Road Studios Orchestra – orchestra (track 8) • Ryan Raines – co-production (track 9), drums (track 9), percussion (track 9) • Henry Kwapis – co-production (track 9), keyboards (track 9), guitar (track 9), programming (track 9) • Dominic Fike – vocals (track 9), acoustic guitar (track 9) • John Muller – engineering (track 9) • Dani Perez – assistant engineering (track 9) • Este Haim – vocals (track 10), bass (track 10) • Alana Haim – vocals (track 10), guitar (track 10) • Rostam Batmanglij – drum programming (track 10), synth bass (track 10), piano (track 10), synths (track 10), 12-string guitar (track 10), string arrangement (track 10), engineering (track 10) • Gabe Noel – cello (track 10) • Jake Hallenbeck – synths (track 10) • Joey Messina-Doerning – engineering (track 10) • Lauren Marquez – engineering (track 10) • Nick Noneman – engineering (track 10) • Billie Eilish – vocal production (track 11), engineering (track 11), vocals (track 11), synths (track 11) • Finneas – engineering (track 11), piano (track 11), synths (track 11), electric bass (track 11), percussion (track 11), vocal arrangement (track 11) • Louis Bell – programming (track 12) • James Keeley – engineering (track 13) • John Wilkenson Derisme – bass (track 13) • Denis Kosiak – mixing (track 13) • Jonny Breakwell – mixing (track 14) • Andrew Grasso – drums (track 15) • Chris Condon – drum engineering (track 15), guitar (track 15) • Pedro Calloni – mixing (track 15) ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==