The Lion King (1994 soundtrack): History and Key Facts

The Lion King: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack album for the eponymous Disney film. It contains songs from the film written by British singer, composer and pianist Elton John and English lyricist Tim Rice, and a score composed by German score composer and music producer Hans Zimmer. Elton John has a dual role of performer for several tracks. Additional performers include South African singer and songwriter Lebo M, American actress and singer Carmen Twillie, American actor and singer Jason Weaver, English actor Rowan Atkinson, American rock singer Joseph Williams, American actress Whoopi Goldberg, English actor Jeremy Irons, American actor Cheech Marin, American actor Jim Cummings, New Jersey actor Nathan Lane, New York actor Ernie Sabella, and American singer Sally Dworsky. The album was released on May 31, 1994, on CD and audio cassette. The soundtrack was recorded in three different countries: the U.S., the U.K. and South Africa. It is the best-selling soundtrack album to an animated film in the United States with over 7 million copies sold, with 4,934,000 copies sold in 1994. An expanded version of The Lion King soundtrack, featuring 30 minutes of previously unreleased material, was released as part of the Walt Disney Records: The Legacy Collection series on June 24, 2014. In 2014, Hot Topic released a vinyl picture disc of the soundtrack.

In 2010, Rhapsody included the soundtrack as one of 10 essential Disney and Pixar soundtracks.

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