Top 10 popstars with Disney roots: From Justin Timberlake to Selena Gomez
With Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato poised to release new music and Bridgit Mendler preparing to hit the UK, the list of Disney stars who have translated their small-screen popularity into successful pop careers is continuing to expand.
The House of Mouse has provided a platform for some of the most popular recording artists of all time during the earlier stages of their careers, and their ever-evolving roster shows no signs of fading out.
So, from Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake in the early '90s to the latest crop of upstarts, via ex-rivals Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan, take a look at my top 10 picks below.
10. Bridgit Mendler
20-year-old Mendler became the star of Disney Channel Original Series 'Good Luck Charlie' in 2010, and a transition to pop music was inevitable. She performed on 'The X Factor' USA last year with her catchy tune 'Ready Or Not', and is poised to release the single here in the UK in the coming weeks. Please, contain your excitement.
9. Ashley Tisdale
Ashley's success on the absurdly successful 'High School Musical' franchise (the finale of which was nearly six years ago - MADNESS) led to her own releases with Warner Bros. Records, who unveiled her first collection Headstrong in February 2007. The album went Gold in the US after peaking at No5, but 2009 follow-up Guilty Pleasure stalled at No12. UK success has not been forthcoming, with neither collection managing to chart inside the Top 100.
8. Lindsay Lohan
Remember that time Lindsay Lohan tried a pop career? Good times (ish). She actually did far better than you might think; reaching the US top 5 and achieving Platinum status with her debut Speak in 2004, and sneaking into the top 20 one year later with A Little More Personal (Raw). Her humble beginnings in Disney movies 'The Parent Trap', 'Freaky Friday', 'Just My Luck' and 'Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen' seem a million miles away from her career today, which is more focussed around when she'll next be in court than when she'll next be on a film set.
7. Demi Lovato
Sonny With A Chance frontwoman Demi had a quieter start than her Disney contemporaries Selena Gomez and Miley Cyrus, but her loyal following of Lovatics have kept her record sales consistently impressive. Thanks to major exposure on 'The X Factor' USA in 2012, you can expect her upcoming fourth album to send her shooting further up this list over the coming year. She is a self-proclaimed Skyscraper, after all.
6. Selena Gomez
Selena's début album Kiss & Tell smashed into the US top 10 in 2009, and her chart positions have been improving ever since. Most recent effort When The Sun Goes Down won huge critical acclaim and gave Selena and her band The Scene their first top 3 record. It's estimated that they've sold more than 2 million albums worldwide. Her Disney Channel series, 'Wizards of Waverly Place', ran from 2007 to 2012.
5. Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff transitioned effortlessly from the titular star of Lizzie McGuire to worldwide pop sensation at the beginning of the century, selling nearly 4 million copies of her début album Metamorphosis and hitting the UK top 10 with singles 'So Yesterday' and 'Wake Up'. A venture into mature electropop dented her momentum considerably in 2007, and her 2008 best of collection failed to break the top 100 on either side of the Atlantic. She left Hollywood Records and is apparently now plotting a return to music.
4. Miley Cyrus
As both Hannah Montana and Miley Cyrus, the plucky Nashville native has sold around 12-15 million records worldwide, according to various online whispers; and she's set to add to that tally later in 2013 with a brand new record. Her biggest-selling single to date, 2009's 'Party In The USA', was co-written by none other than Jessie J.
3. Christina Aguilera
Xtina was rejected from The Mickey Mouse Club in 1991 for being too young, but luckily she went back two years later and her journey upwards to pop's premier league well and truly began. Four years after the show's cancellation, she landed the job of recording the song 'Reflection' for the Mulan soundtrack, and attracted the attention of label executive Ron Fair, who signed her to RCA records. Since then, she's sold an estimated 50 million albums worldwide and is now an on-off coach on 'The Voice'.
2. Justin Timberlake
Justin's stint on The Mickey Mouse Club in the early '90s landed him in boyband 'N Sync; who got their title from the last letter of each member's forename. Clever, right? They sold millions of records globally, and after they ominously "took a break" in 2002, Justin went solo and sold 18 million records in his own right. He's currently readying his third LP for worldwide release after taking a six-year break to star in mostly average films.
1. Britney Spears
With 100 million record sales and an alleged net worth of around $ 200 million, Britney is easily the most successful popstar to begin her journey with the House Of Mouse. Like Christina and Justin, she crept into the public eye as a fresh-faced youngster on The Mickey Mouse Club. She was then briefly in talks to join a girlband called Innosense but, luckily, she ended up being pitched to labels as a solo artist. Three rejected her, arguing that bands like the Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls were in far more demand than soloists, but Jive finally signed her... and the rest is history. Her début album ...Baby One More Time sold 30 million copies worldwide, following which Oops!... I Did It Again flogged 25 million. To date, she's reportedly sold around 100 million albums in total, and will release her eighth studio collection later in 2013.
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