Will the voice of Frozen‘s Elsa singing Christmas tunes be music to the ears of consumers? That’s the hope with Idina Menzel‘s new Holiday Wishes album, which debuts at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 with 20,000 copies sold in the week ending Oct. 19, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Though Menzel is a Tony-winning actress and singer, she’s arguably best-known for Frozen. The runaway hit film has earned $401 million at the U.S. and Canadian box office, according to Box Office Mojo. It was the third-highest-grossing movie released in America in 2013, and earned two Academy Awards: best animated feature film and best original song (for the hit single “Let It Go,” sung by Menzel in the movie).
And don’t forget the Frozen soundtrack, featuring Menzel’s recordings. It’s the biggest album of the year so far, with 3.2 million sold in 2014 (of its 3.5 million total). So, it makes sense that the breakout star from the wintry musical film would make her own holiday album.
The real question now is, can Holiday Wishes turn into as big of a smash as Frozen? Well-received Christmas albums can bring in big returns, after all. For example, take Josh Groban‘s Noel and Michael Buble‘s Christmas, two of the biggest holiday sets in recent memory: The former finished 2007 as the year’s best seller (3.7 million of its 5.7 million total), while Buble’s was the second-biggest of 2011 (2.5 million of its 3.4 million total). For good measure, Buble duets with Menzel on Holiday Wishes, and Menzel, Groban and Buble all share the same label, Warner Bros. Records.
Industry sources say Menzel’s album has a great shot at becoming 2014’s biggest holiday release, though forecasting its year-end total is a crapshoot. (Guesses range anywhere from 250,000 to 650,000 units.) But anything can happen: Who would have predicted that the Robertson family (of Duck Dynasty fame) would tally the biggest holiday album of 2013 with Duck the Halls? It sold 809,000 copies, more than the runner-up, Kelly Clarkson‘s Wrapped in Red, which tallied 763,000.