What movie soundtrack spent the longest at number one?
Sometimes, the soundtrack or score of a film is the best part, with the songs sticking in our memory and becoming a permanent reflection of a beautiful scene defined by the music accompanying it. It could be the electric opening sequence to Titane, with a slow panning shot that invites us into the bizarre folds of the world as girls dance on cars to The Kills, or it could be the nostalgic soundtrack to Dirty Dancing, with Baby’s summer romance blooming to the sound of The Ronettes and Otis Redding.
For many people, there are some films that speak to us purely on a sonic level. Whether it’s the sounds of Johnny Greenwood or Jon Brion infiltrating our minds on a deeper level, there’s often one melody that captivates us in a way that no image could. The relationship between music and film is a perfect marriage, sometimes intertwining in complete unison to demonstrate the ultimate power of cinema.
But while there are many soundtracks and scores we love, whether it be the spooky accompaniment to Coraline or the punky soundtrack to Marie Antoinette, there was one that could be deemed as the most successful after spending the longest amount of time at the number one spot on the charts.
Leonard Bernstein is one of the greatest composers of all time, and so the combination of his talents with that of Stephen Sondheim, the greatest lyricist of all time, led to one of the greatest musicals ever. It’s perhaps akin to the merging of David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin for the creation of The Social Network, or the combination of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Heat—it’s the kind of timeless collaboration that is almost hard to believe.
But for Bernstein and Sondheim, the fruits of their talents led to West Side Story, a musical love story about star-crossed lovers from opposing neighbourhoods in New York. From the energetic choreography to the heartfelt musical numbers and clashing rhythms, it remains one of the most staggering musical triumphs of all time.
Bernstein’s score is nothing short of genius, whether it be repeated use of the seventh interval or the alternating 6/4 and 3/4 measures in ‘America’, it’s a catchy and infectious soundtrack that literally hasn’t been topped since.
After the film’s release in 1961, the soundtrack rose to the top of the charts and spent a total of 54 weeks there, with its success not relenting for one day as people rushed to re-listen to ‘I Feel Pretty’ and ‘Jets Song’ over and over again.
There is something about it that people could not get enough of, something that carried on into this decade after Steven Spielberg chose to remake the film and bring the songs back into the public conscience. While his version is very different, it seems as though the buzz never quite left, and many fans of the musical genre will still describe it as one of the greatest musicals they’ve experienced.
