Soundtracks are in decline on the Billboard 200

UPDATE (July 15): Soundtracks continue to be in decline Billboard 200although the two soundtracks on the chart dated July 20 are both up from the previous week. Barbie: The album jumps from No. 172 to No. 162 in its 51st week. Moana jumps from No. 173 to No. 165 in its 380th week. Both albums reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

PREVIOUS (July 12): There are only two movie or TV soundtracks on the current Billboard 200 albums chart – and none of them are from a 2024 movie. Barbie: The albumwhich falls to No. 172 in its 50th week on the chart, was tied for last summer's box-office juggernaut. Moanawhich falls to No. 173 in its 379th week, is the soundtrack to a film released way back in 2016.

This is the first time the highest-ranking soundtrack on the Billboard 200 has ranked as low as No. 172 in the more than seven years that the Billboard 200 and the Top Soundtracks chart have followed the same chart formula.

Both charts rank the most popular albums of the week in the US based on polymetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units, compiled by Luminate. Units include album sales, track album equivalents (TEA) and streaming album equivalents (SEA).

It's just that the music business is cyclical, and that seems to be especially true with soundtracks. They've had years dominating the Billboard 200 and years barely making a dent.

From February 11, 2017, the week the two charts first followed the same formula, through the chart dated September 23, 2017, at least one soundtrack appeared in the top 20 every week, thanks to winners such as La La Land, Fifty Shades Darker, Trolls, Moana, Beauty and the Beast, Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Purple Rain and Descendants 2.

Additionally, at least one soundtrack appeared in the top 100 every week until April 24, 2021. After that, the ongoing pandemic slowed down the flow of hit movies and, consequently, soundtracks. There were 22 weeks in 2021 in which no soundtrack appeared in the top 100.

The picture for soundtracks brightened noticeably in 2022, thanks in large part to Encanto and Elvis. At least one soundtrack appeared in the top 100 every week that year. In 33 of those weeks, at least one soundtrack appeared in the top 20.

There were seven weeks in 2023 in which no soundtrack appeared in the top 100. There have been nine such weeks so far in 2024.