Grease: The Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture - Background

Background

The soundtrack was released in April 14, 1978, two months ahead of the film's release. The cover gives credit to, and prominently features, the two stars of the film—John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John—although they only appear on seven of the 24 tracks. The remainder of the album is sung by various cast members and Sha Na Na, a group who performed many of the 1950s numbers in the film. The title track was recorded by Frankie Valli, who had no other connection with the film.

The most successful songs from the soundtrack were written specifically for the film. They included the Billboard number-one hits "Grease", "You're the One That I Want" and the number-three, Academy Award-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You". In the UK, the album proved even more successful where "You're the One That I Want" reached No.1 for nine weeks, "Summer Nights" reached No.1 for seven weeks, while "Grease", "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Sandy" all became top three hits. The soundtrack album hit the top of the charts in the U.S. during the summer of 1978, replacing The Rolling Stones' Some Girls. In the UK, it remained at the top of the charts for 13 consecutive weeks. As of 2011, "You're the One That I Want" and "Summer Nights" are still among the 20 best-selling singles of all time in the UK (at Nos.6 and 19 respectively).

Two of the bass players who recorded on the Grease soundtrack were (at different times) members of Toto. One of these, David Hungate, also performed on Olivia Newton-John's album Totally Hot with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. Other musicians here have previously worked with Elton John, Steely Dan, Bee Gees and others.

The album has sold over 6 million copies in the US in the Soundscan era (beginning 1991) in addition to the millions sold in the years 1978-1991. Worldwide the album sold 28 million copies.