Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack to the 2016 Disney animated film of the same name. The soundtrack was released by Walt Disney Records on November 19, 2016. It features original songs written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foaʻi, with orchestrations provided by David Metzger, and with lyrics in English, Samoan, Tokelauan and Tuvaluan. The two-disc deluxe edition includes the score, which was composed by Mancina, as well as demos, outtakes and instrumental karaoke tracks. The record also produced two singles.

The album debuted on the Billboard 200 chart at number 16 and peaked at number 2, kept off the top spot by The Weeknd's Starboy.Hugh McIntyre, "The 'Moana' Soundtrack Blasts Into The Top 10 While The Weeknd Is On Top", Forbes, December 4, 2016. "How Far I'll Go" won the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media, and was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song"Golden Globe Nominations: Complete List", Variety, December 12, 2016. and the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Recording For the soundtrack, Disney wanted to combine traditional South Pacific culture with pop and Broadway sensibilities, which led to the hiring of Broadway playwright, songwriter and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer Mark Mancina and Tokelauan singer-songwriter Opetaia Foaʻi. The first song they completed was "We Know the Way", which Foa'i began after his first meeting with Disney in December 2013. The trio worked together in New Zealand and in Los Angeles.Melinda Newman, "Lin-Manuel Miranda, Mark Mancina & Opetaia Foa'i on Creating Disney's 'Moana' Music as 'Hamilton' Exploded", Billboard, November 23, 2016.Tim Greiving, "In 'Moana,' New Voices Both Uphold And Challenge The Disney Tradition", NPR, November 20, 2016. At the same time, Miranda was also developing and starring in the Broadway musical Hamilton, which meant he was able to recruit Hamilton stars Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, and Renée Elise Goldsberry as well as In The Heights star Marcy Harriell to help him record demos of his songs.

Since Hamilton had not yet premiered on Broadway at the time Disney Animation was hiring a songwriter, Miranda was still relatively unknown and had to audition for Moana. The day he got the job was the same day he learned he was going to become a father. He was overjoyed to meet directors John Musker and Ron Clements, where he told them they were the reason he became a songwriter, because the song "Under the Sea" in The Little Mermaid (1989) "blew [his] tiny 9-year-old mind".

The songs feature Foaʻi's New Zealand-based vocal group Te Vaka, as well as a choir from Fiji. The soundtrack contains seven original songs, two reprises, and two end-credits versions of songs from the film. Mancina composed the score and produced both the score and the songs. In addition to guitars and strings, the score features some vocals in Polynesian languages, as well as Polynesian percussion, woodwinds made from bamboo from the South Pacific, and traditional hide-covered Tyka drums.

According to Miranda, "Shiny" was inspired by the Flight of the Conchords' tribute to David Bowie at the Aspen Comedy Festival in 2004, as well as listening to Bowie's songs on a loop shortly after the singer's death in January 2016.

Commercial performance "How Far I'll Go" appears during the film performed by actress Auliʻi Cravalho, and during the end credits performed by Canadian singer-songwriter Alessia Cara.Jessica Goodman, "Alessia Cara debuts new Moana song written by Lin-Manuel Miranda", Entertainment Weekly, October 28, 2016. A music video for Cara's version of the song was released on November 3, 2016. It reached number 88 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of December 17, 2016.Alessia Cara chart, Billboard. Accessed December 12, 2016. Archived 2016-12-13 at the Wayback South African singer Lira and Filipino singer Janella Salvador recorded two English-language versions of "How Far I'll Go" that played over the end credits on the South African and Filipino release of the film, while Indonesian singer Maudy Ayunda and Malaysian singer Ayda Jebat recorded their own versions of the song respectively in Indonesian and Malaysian language.

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jordan Fisher sing a duet on "You're Welcome", which plays over the end credits. The song as performed by Dwayne Johnson appears in the film. Johnson's version of "You're Welcome" peaked at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of December 17, 2016. The soundtrack also features Jemaine Clement, who voices the coconut crab Tamatoa.

The album sold 509,000 copies in the United States by April 2017, making it the third soundtrack to surpass a half-million in sales that year after Suicide Squad and Trolls. Moana sold 709,000 copies and earned 1,254,000 album-equivalents, finishing as the country's fifth-best-selling album of the year and had its ninth largest overall album consumption.

The album set a record for most weeks at No. 1 on Billboard Soundtracks Chart, with 61 weeks in total by October 23, 2021.

Critical reception

Pablo Ruiz of Rotoscopers called Lin-Manuel Miranda "the perfect choice" to write the songs. He further wrote: "The result, accompanied by the score by Mark Mancina, is absolutely delightful. It might take some people a while to get used to the new rhythms, since this is not as Broadway-ish as Frozen, but I firmly believe we will all be singing these tunes for years and years to come."

Accolades At the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, "How Far I'll Go" won the Best Song Written For Visual Media. At the 74th Golden Globe Awards, it was nominated for Best Original Song. It also received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 89th Academy Awards.

In popular culture During an episode of WWE Raw on March 15, 2024, Maui's voice actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnsonhaving returned to his part-time professional wrestling career and revived his villainous "Hollywood Rock" persona for the first time since 2003vowed to injure Cody Rhodes and threatened Rhodes' mother by singing a line from the chorus of "You're Welcome" into the camera in a sinister fashion.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2016–2017) Peakposition French Albums (SNEP) 20 Italian Compilation Albums (FIMI) 3 US Kid Albums (Billboard) 1

Year-end charts +2017 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2017) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 5 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) 33 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) 122 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 159 Canadian Albums (Billboard) 10 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 37 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts) 79 French Albums (SNEP) 51 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) 78 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 4 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) 96 UK Albums (OCC) 12 US Billboard 200 6 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 1

+2018 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2018) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 28 Danish Albums (Hitlisten) 84 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 38 US Billboard 200 52 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 4

+2019 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2019) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 64 US Billboard 200 81 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 5

+2020 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2020) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 98 US Billboard 200 82 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 3

+2021 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2021) Position US Billboard 200 100 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 1

+2022 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2022) Position US Billboard 200 110 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 2

+2023 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2023) Position US Billboard 200 146 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 2

+2024 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2024) Position US Billboard 200 161 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 2

+2025 year-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2025) Position Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) 191 US Billboard 200 178 US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) 4

Decade-end charts +Decade-end chart performance for Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Chart (2010–2019) Position Australian Albums (ARIA) 100 US Billboard 200 42

Tracks +Chart performance for tracks from Moana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Track title Performer(s) Peak positions USBillboard Hot 100, December 17, 2016. AUSPeaks of Moana songs in Australia: "How Far I'll Go" (Auliʻi Cravalho version): "How Far I'll Go" (Alessia Cara version) and "You're Welcome": CAN NZ UK "How Far I'll Go" Auliʻi Cravalho 41 49 58 — 55 "How Far I'll Go" Alessia Cara 56 15 46 3 49 "You're Welcome" Dwayne Johnson 65 77 85 — — "We Know the Way" Opetaia Foaʻi & Lin-Manuel Miranda 93 — — — — "Shiny" Jemaine Clement — — — — — "Where You Are" Christopher Jackson, Rachel House, Nicole Scherzinger, Auliʻi Cravalho & Louise Bush — — — — — "I Am Moana (Song of the Ancestors)" Rachel House & Auliʻi Cravalho — — — — — "—" denotes a recording that did not chart.

Certifications

Notes

References