DVDizzy Forum

Just checked the RIAA site and decided to give it a try and see if any of the 'fab four''s soundtracks got recertified.

Only TLM received a new cert almost two years ago, indicating shipment of 6 million copies. 6 platinum is A LOT (of the other 1990s classics, only TLK has sold more). Just thought I'd share.

Great news! Thanks for sharing It would be nice if Disney would release an official version of score-only soundtracks (orchestra only). I created custom versions by ripping the DVD tracks but the quality is quite low.

Wow ! What a wonderful achievement for The Little Mermaid. Very proud

Is there a list around of any of the other Disney Animated Classics soundtrack sales ? As I'd be quite interested to see that ...

atlanticaunderthesea wrote:Is there a list around of any of the other Disney Animated Classics soundtrack sales ? As I'd be quite interested to see that ...

1 Platinum=1 million copies shipped to retail

The Little Mermaid - 6x Platinum
Beauty and the Beast - 3x Platinum (should be re-certified)
Aladdin - 3x Platinum (should be re-certified)
The Lion King - 10x Platinum
Pocahontas - 3x Platinum
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame - Platinum
Hercules - Gold
Mulan - Gold
Tarzan - 2x Platinum

Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Lady and the Tramo, Sleeping Beauty and The Jungle Book (these are the ones I checked, at least) are all certified 2-3x Platinum but they're under the SINGLE category and not album or soundtrack so I don't know what's the deal.

Thanks for sharing that info, rodis.

I am suprised, but happy, that It's The Lion King and The Little Mermaid are Disney's top selling soundtracks. I suppose their hit Broadway shows helped quite a bit ?

I thought Beauty and the Beast would have had more sales.... oh well, yay for TLM!

Poody wrote:I thought Beauty and the Beast would have had more sales.... oh well, yay for TLM!

I did too, at first. But TLM's score was award-winning, B&tB as a film was award-nominated, therefore TLM has better music, B&tB has a better plot.

Congrats to Alan and Howard (and everybody else)! If only he could see how big it turned out to be.

Vermin Friends wrote: I did too, at first. But TLM's score was award-winning, B&tB as a film was award-nominated, therefore TLM has better music

You don't really mean that, do you? Just because it won an award? That's like saying Shrek is a better film than Monsters, Inc. just because it won the Best Animated Feature Award.

KubrickFan wrote:

Vermin Friends wrote: I did too, at first. But TLM's score was award-winning, B&tB as a film was award-nominated, therefore TLM has better music

You don't really mean that, do you? Just because it won an award? That's like saying Shrek is a better film than Monsters, Inc. just because it won the Best Animated Feature Award.

Actually, yes, I was serious. Although now, I can see where I'm wrong, and I apologize for making such an unfair comment.

Vermin Friends wrote:

Poody wrote:I thought Beauty and the Beast would have had more sales.... oh well, yay for TLM!

I did too, at first. But TLM's score was award-winning, B&tB as a film was award-nominated, therefore TLM has better music, B&tB has a better plot.

I'm pretty sure Beauty and the Beast won the same musical awards The Little Mermaid did. I could be mistaken though.

Congratulations to TLM PE Soundtrack Personally I've always thought The Little Mermaid was a better musical whilst Beauty and the Beast is a better film. Sadly, that didn't translate onto broadway. Though I think both are great in the two areas anyway, I think one area is stonger in each film.

jeremy88 wrote:Congratulations to TLM PE Soundtrack Personally I've always thought The Little Mermaid was a better musical whilst Beauty and the Beast is a better film. Sadly, that didn't translate onto broadway. Though I think both are great in the two areas anyway, I think one area is stonger in each film.

This is what I meant.

On a random note I remember listening to the original cassette tape over and over and over from 1989 to..... who knows when.

TLM's sales don't shock me--I have three versions of the soundtrack: the original cassette, the first CD and the PE re-release. And I personally think TLM has the best selection anyway; no two songs are exactly alike, but they're all intense/beautiful.

I'm actually more surprised that TLK has such high sales (I guess the child factor for "Hakuna Mutata").

Disney's Divinity wrote:TLM's sales don't shock me--I have three versions of the soundtrack: the original cassette, the first CD and the PE re-release. And I personally think TLM has the best selection anyway; no two songs are exactly alike, but they're all intense/beautiful.

I'm actually more surprised that TLK has such high sales (I guess the child factor for "Hakuna Mutata").

I only have the 1997 edition with the B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L booklet.
BTW, are there any pics in the PE soundtrack? I might just buy it if it has a nice booklet.

As for TLK, it's like the Titanic of all the Disney classics. And why shouldn't it sell so much? Think of COL, IJKWTBK, CYFTLT and the entire score really... Plus the huge mass appeal the film had...

Vermin Friends wrote:But TLM's score was award-winning, B&tB as a film was award-nominated, therefore TLM has better music, B&tB has a better plot.

jeremy88 wrote:Personally I've always thought The Little Mermaid was a better musical whilst Beauty and the Beast is a better film.

Actually, I think that Beauty and the Beast is only really thought of as such a good film for it's music. You know how everyone says a really good thing about it is the characters grow to love each other? This essentially happens with "Something There" and "Beauty and the Beast". Without the music, Beauty and the Beast would be considered nearly as great as it is. I also say it was nominated not because it had a better plot, but because it had live-action aspects (as some Disney workers actually complained about), the better to blend in with live-action films that usually get nominated, the comic relief sidekicks were humans transformed, instead of talking animals (though Babe got nominated, but the animals were the main characters and thus were developed a lot like human characters), and it pushed a message about loving people for something more than how they look, and maybe also because the main characters learn stuff to enough of a degree for enough people to notice.

If you want to talk about actual plot, I really don't think Beauty and the Beast has the best one. It's funny because yes, originally it was essentially a girl and an animal have dinner together!

Oh don't get me wrong, the music in BATB is amazing, and "Something There" is the key song for Belle and Beast getting to know each other, while "Beauty and the Beast" is the culmination of "Something There" and pretty much the moral of a the whole story. I just think almost all of the songs in The Little Mermaid are more necesary. In BATB songs like "Be our Guest" and "Kill the Beast" are nice songs (er, not really kill the beast), but the film actually could have been done with out them. Of course were all glad that didn't happen, but really "Be our guest" is just for entertainment reasons, I guess to make Belle feel more welcome in the castle but no other importance involving the plot, while "kill the beast" is just an angry mob off to well, kill the beast. In The Little Mermaid, however, all the songs are key elements to that story. Probably the least important is "Fathoms Below" which is just the introductory song. "Part of that World" is basically the theme through out the entire Little Mermaid film. It could be looked at similarly to "Belle" and it's reprise to develop Belle's character, but thats not really the ongoing theme in Beauty and the Beast. "Under the Sea" is pretty much like The Little Mermaid's version of "Be our Guest" but the big difference here is that Under the Sea is used to counter the films main goal (I'm talking about Part of that/your World here) It's Sebastions way of trying to stop Ariel and explaining why life is better under the sea. The protagonist of each film (Ursula and Gaston) each have there own song. Gaston's song is pretty much all character development, why he's so great, why Belle should marry him, why he's just amazing...well in the towns eyes anyway. However, Poor Unfortunate Souls kills two birds with one stone. It not only develops Ursula's character in the first half of that song, it also moves on the story and she explains to Ariel why she should become human.

Thanks for reading that if you did lol. In the end, I think Beauty and the Beasts main theme is more meaingful the The Little Mermaids, including it's story and the entire plot line goes a little deeper. I just feel The Little Mermaid uses its muscial aspect to its full advantage, in terms of character development and necessity to the films story. Anyways thats just my opinion and its entirety, of course in the end both BATB and TLM are amazing in both ways (which is why they rank up there with my favorite films of all time)