"Beauty and the Beast" is the Oscar winning leading single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 from the Academy Award Best Picture

Academy Award for Best Picture

The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...

 nominated animated film Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (1991 film)

Beauty and the Beast is a 1991 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirtieth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and the third film of the Disney Renaissance period...

 film, and the first hit single

Hit single

A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...

 from Céline Dion

Celine Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, , , is a Canadian singer. Born to a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record...

's eponymous album

Celine Dion (album)

Celine Dion is an eponymous album by Canadian singer Céline Dion, released on March 31, 1992. It is her second English album and 17th in total...

. It was performed in the movie by Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury

Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...

, and sung over the movie's closing credits by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson

Peabo Bryson is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, born in Greenville, South Carolina...

. The Dion-Bryson single was released on November 16, 1991 in Canada, on December 30, 1991 in the United States and the next year in the rest of the world.

The song is a ballad about the love developing between Belle

Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

Belle is a fictional character from the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast and is one of the main protagonists of the Disney animated film, Beauty and the Beast and its two direct-to-video sequels, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas and its several spin-offs, including Beauty and the Beast:...

 and the Beast. It was written by composer Alan Menken

Alan Menken

Alan Menken is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his numerous scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. His scores for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards...

 and late lyricist Howard Ashman

Howard Ashman

Howard Elliott Ashman was an American playwright and lyricist. Ashman first studied at Boston University and Goddard College and then went on to achieve his master's degree from Indiana University in 1974...

. It was one of Ashman's last works before he died of AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 in 1991.

Versions

During the film, "Beauty and the Beast" is performed by Angela Lansbury

Angela Lansbury

Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...

 as Mrs. Potts, and is heard whilst Belle and the Beast dance in the castle ballroom. Another version is performed by Céline Dion and Peabo Bryson at the end of the film. This was also the version released on a CD single and is also included on Dion's self-titled album

Celine Dion (album)

Celine Dion is an eponymous album by Canadian singer Céline Dion, released on March 31, 1992. It is her second English album and 17th in total...

 (1992). A music video, directed by Dominic Orlando, was released in January 1992.

Lansbury, Dion and Bryson all performed the song live on stage during the 64th Academy Awards

64th Academy Awards

The 64th Academy Awards were presented March 30, 1992 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles. The show was the third consecutive to be hosted by Billy Crystal...

 ceremony. Dion and Bryson performed it also at the Grammy Awards in 1993.

In 1998, a version of the song, called "Beauty and the Bees", was made for the 3D movie It's Tough to be a Bug!

It's Tough to Be a Bug!

It's Tough to Be a Bug! is a 9-minute long 3-D film based on the Disney·Pixar film, A Bug's Life. The film, created by Rhythm and Hues Studios, is the main component of a theme park attraction at several Walt Disney theme parks...

s queue at Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom

Disney's Animal Kingdom is an animal theme park located at the Walt Disney World Resort. The fourth park built at the resort, it opened on April 22, 1998, and it is the largest single Disney theme park in the world, covering more than . It is also the first Disney theme park to be themed entirely...

 and Disney's California Adventure

Disney's California Adventure

Disney California Adventure, or simply California Adventure, is a theme park in Anaheim, California, adjacent to Disneyland Park and part of the larger Disneyland Resort. It opened on February 8, 2001 as Disney's California Adventure Park. The park is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Parks and...

. A short arrangement of "Beauty and the Beast" can be heard in Kingdom Hearts II

Kingdom Hearts II

is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...

 video game. The song was included later on Céline Dion's greatest hits albums All the Way… A Decade of Song (1999) and My Love: Essential Collection

My Love: Essential Collection

My Love: Essential Collection is a greatest hits album by Canadian recording artist Celine Dion. It was released by Columbia Records on October 24, 2008 as the follow up to her previous English-language compilation, All the Way... A Decade of Song . Before releasing My Love: Essential Collection,...

 (2008).

In 2002, the song was covered by the group Jump5

Jump5

- History :Siblings Brandon and Brittany Hargest had competed on the same dance team as Lesley Moore, and were familiar with Chris Fedun and Libby Hodges through the competitive dance circuit. The mother of Hodges held an open casting call to find additional members to form a new pop group with her...

 and placed on the album, DisneyMania

DisneyMania

Disneymania is the first of a series of albums released by Walt Disney Records featuring various musical artists performing Disney songs. The original album, released on September 17, 2002, featured contemporary Disney classics...

.

In 2005, Julie Andrews

Julie Andrews

Dame Julia Elizabeth Andrews, DBE is an English film and stage actress, singer, and author. She is the recipient of Golden Globe, Emmy, Grammy, BAFTA, People's Choice Award, Theatre World Award, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Award honors...

 selected the song for her album Julie Andrews Selects Her Favorite Disney Songs.

In 2007 the song was covered by the Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper

Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...

 on the album, Cyndi Lauper the Disney Classic Song Vol. 2.

On the 2009 album, Disney's Dream Pop: Tribute to Tokyo

Disney's Dream Pop: Tribute to Tokyo

Disney's Dream POP: Tribute to Tokyo Disney Resort 25th Anniversary# Mihimaru GT - "Under the Sea" # Namba Shiho - "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" # AAA - "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride"...

, the song is covered by the group Bright

Bright (Japanese band)

Bright is a dance vocal band in Japan under major label Rhythm Zone.-History:At the average age of 17, A chorus group, was formed in 2001 with the members NAGI, MI-MI and MEG. These 3 members of the group were childhood friends from elementary school...

.

In 2010, Jordin Sparks

Jordin Sparks

Jordin Brianna Sparks is an American pop / R&B singer-songwriter and actress. She hails from Glendale, Arizona who rose to fame as the winner of the sixth season of American Idol. Sparks won when she was 17 years old, making her the youngest winner in Idol history...

 recorded her cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the theme song "Beauty and the Beast", and filmed an accompanying music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 with director Philip Andelman, to support the 2010 DVD/Blu-ray re-release.

On the 2011 album V-Rock Disney, which features visual kei

Visual Kei

is a movement among Japanese musicians, that is characterized by the use of make-up, elaborate hair styles and flamboyant costumes, often, but not always, coupled with androgynous aesthetics. Some sources state that visual kei refers to a music genre, or to a sub-genre of Japanese rock, with its...

 artists covering Disney songs, Ryuichi Kawamura

Ryuichi Kawamura

is a Japanese singer-songwriter, actor and record producer. He is best known as lead singer of the rock band Luna Sea. After the group disbanded in 2000, Ryuichi went on to a successful solo career. In 2005 he formed Tourbillon with, fellow Luna Sea member, Inoran and Hiroaki Hayama...

 covered this song in Japanese

Japanese language

is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...

.

Other artists who covered this song were Cher

Cher

Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...

 and Jeffrey Osborne

Jeffrey Osborne

Jeffrey Linton Osborne is an American funk and R&B musician, songwriter, lyricist, and former lead singer of the band, L.T.D.-Early life and career:...

, James Ingram

James Ingram

James Ingram is an American soul musician. He is best known as a vocalist. He is also a self-taught musician who plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards...

 and Britney Spears

Britney Spears

Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...

, H & Claire

H & Claire

H & Claire were a pop duo, consisting of former Steps members Claire Richards and Ian "H" Watkins. They released one low-charting album and three top ten singles in 2002 before disbanding.- History :...

, Christina Aguilera

Christina Aguilera

Christina María Aguilera is an American recording artist and actress. Aguilera first appeared on national television in 1990 as a contestant on the Star Search program, and went on to star in Disney Channel's television series The Mickey Mouse Club from 1993–1994...

 and Luther Vandross

Luther Vandross

Luther Ronzoni Vandross was an American singer-songwriter and record producer. During his career, Vandross sold over twenty-five million albums and won eight Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four times...

, Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...

 and Barry Manilow

Barry Manilow

Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, producer, conductor, and performer, best known for such recordings as "Could It Be Magic", "Mandy", "Can't Smile Without You", and "Copacabana ."...

, Sting and Erykah Badu

Erykah Badu

Erica Abi Wright , better known by her stage name Erykah Badu , is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Her work includes elements from R&B, hip hop and jazz. She is best known for her role in the rise of the neo soul sub-genre, and for her eccentric, cerebral musical...

, Richard Marx

Richard Marx

Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...

 and Shania Twain

Shania Twain

Shania Twain, OC is a Canadian country pop singer-songwriter. Her album The Woman in Me , brought her fame and her 1997 album Come On Over, became the best-selling album of all time by a female musician in any genre, and the best-selling country album of all time. It has sold over 40 million...

, Phil Collins

Phil Collins

Philip David Charles "Phil" Collins, LVO is an English singer-songwriter, drummer, pianist and actor best known as a drummer and vocalist for British progressive rock group Genesis and as a solo artist....

 and Regina Belle

Regina Belle

Regina Belle is a singer-songwriter who first surfaced in the late 1980s. She is notable for her Grammy award winning duet with Peabo Bryson, "A Whole New World".-Biography:Regina Belle was born in Englewood, New Jersey...

, Amy Jo Johnson

Amy Jo Johnson

Amy Jo Johnson is an American actress, singer, songwriter and musician.She is best known for her roles in the televison series as the constable Jules Callaghan in the Canadian CTV television series Flashpoint, the famous jockey Tina Sharp in the ABC Family's original show Wildfire, the rookie cop...

 and R Kelly, plus Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

 and Whitney Houston

Whitney Houston

Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...

.

Reception

"Beauty and the Beast" was successful on the charts around the world, becoming Dion's first international hit. The single reached number 9 in the U.S. (number 8 on the Hot 100 Singles Sales

Hot 100 Singles Sales

The Hot Singles Sales chart is a chart released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States. It measures sales of commercial singles and is one of three component charts, along with the Hot 100 Airplay and the Hot Digital Songs, that determine the chart positions of singles on the...

 and number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay) and hit top 10 in Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. It was certified gold in the U.S. for selling over 500,000 copies, and platinum in Japan (100,000 copies sold). Thanks to its success, the Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast (soundtrack)

Beauty and the Beast: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack of Disney's 1991 Academy Award-winning animated feature Beauty and the Beast...

 soundtrack was certified 3x platinum in the U.S., for selling over 3,000,000 copies.

Awards

"Beauty and the Beast" won an Academy Award for Best Original Song

Academy Award for Best Original Song

The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...

 in 1992, marking Menken and Ashman's (posthumously) second win after the 1989 award for "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid (1989 film)

The Little Mermaid is a 1989 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 14, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...

. A couple of months before, it had also won the 1992

49th Golden Globe Awards

The 49th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film and television for 1991, were held on January 18, 1992.-Best Actor - Drama:Nick Nolte - The Prince of Tides*Warren Beatty - Bugsy*Kevin Costner - JFK*Robert De Niro - Cape Fear...

 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.-1960s:...

. It also went on winning two Grammy Award

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

s in 1993, for the Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media

The Grammy Award for Best Song Written for Visual Media has been awarded since 1988 and is awarded to songs written for films, television, video games or other visual media...

 and the Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal

The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011...

. The song was also nominated for two other important Grammys: Record of the Year

Grammy Award for Record of the Year

The Record of the Year is one of the four most prestigious Grammy Awards presented annually. It has been awarded since 1959.-History:The honorees through its history have been:*1959-1965: Artist only.*1966-1998: Artist and producer....

 and the Song of the Year

Grammy Award for Song of the Year

The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...

. In Canada, "Beauty and the Beast" won a Juno Award

Juno Award

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...

 for the Single of the Year.

Formats and track listings

Worldwide CD single

1. "Beauty and the Beast" – 4:04
2. "The Beast Lets Belle Go" (instrumental) – 2:19

Canadian CD maxi single

1. "Beauty and the Beast" – 4:04
2. "The Beast Lets Belle Go" (instrumental) – 2:19
3. "Des mots qui sonnent" – 3:56
4. "Délivre-moi
   Delivre-moi
   "Délivre-moi" is the fifth single from Céline Dion's album Incognito, released in June 1988 in Quebec, Canada."Délivre-moi" is a French cover of Elizabeth Daily's "Love in the Shadows" from 1985. The song was very successful and reached number 4 on the Quebec chart...
   
   " (live) – 4:19

Official versions

1. "Beauty and the Beast" (Radio Edit) – 3:33
2. "Beauty and the Beast" (Album Version) – 4:04

Charts

Chart (1991)	Peak position
Canadian Record's Retail Singles Chart The Record (magazine) The Record was a Canadian music industry magazine that featured record charts, trade news and opinions. David Farrell launched the publication in mid-1981, continuing its printed version until August 1999 when The Record continued as a website-based publication...	2
Canadian Record's Contemporary Hit Radio Chart The Record (magazine) The Record was a Canadian music industry magazine that featured record charts, trade news and opinions. David Farrell launched the publication in mid-1981, continuing its printed version until August 1999 when The Record continued as a website-based publication...	21
Canadian RPM Top Singles RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	23
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary RPM (magazine) RPM was a Canadian music industry publication that featured song and album charts for Canada. The publication was founded by Walt Grealis in February 1964, supported through its existence by record label owner Stan Klees. RPM ceased publication in November 2000.RPM stood for "Records, Promotion,...	1
US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	9
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks	3
Chart (1992)	Peak position
Australian Singles Chart ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...	17
Belgian Singles Chart Ultratop Ultratop is an organization which generates and publishes the official record charts in Belgium, and it is also the name of most of those charts...	25
Dutch Singles Chart Dutch Top 40 The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...	18
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...	12
Japanese Singles Chart Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...	67
New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...	8
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	9

Year-end charts

Chart (1992)	Position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	64

Certifications

Country	Certification
Japan Recording Industry Association of Japan The Recording Industry Association of Japan is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved the music industry...	Platinum
United States Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...	Gold