Ryan Gosling scores Top 40 hit in the UK with Barbie song ‘I’m Just Ken’

‘Barbie: The Album’ accompanies Greta Gerwig’s box office smash

Ryan Gosling has broken into the UK top 40 with his hit song from the Barbie soundtrack, “I’m Just Ken”.

The Barbie movie is continuing to shatter records, with its accompanying soundtrack becoming the first of its kind to simultaneously land three top-five songs on the UK singles charts.

Greta Gerwig’s latest comedy, about the Mattel doll, has already smashed several box office records. Its debut weekend earned $162m (£125m) at the global box office.

Now, a week after the film’s release, its complementary soundtrack, Barbie: The Album, is breaking previous UK singles charts records, the Official Charts Company has said.

Billie Eilish’s contemplative “What Was I Made For?” managed to reach number three this week, followed by the album’s lead single, Dua Lipa’s disco pop track “Dance the Night” at number four.

Taking the fifth position is the reworking of Aqua’s “Barbie World” by rappers Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice.

The star-studded album also has Charli XCX’s energetic “Speed Drive”, Gosling’s emotive ballad and Lizzo’s bouncy bop “Pink” in the top 40.

Meanwhile, Rappers Dave and Central Cee’s “Sprinter” is going strong with an eighth week at number one, as is Olivia Rodrigo’s “Vampire”, which remains at number two in the charts.

Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’ (© 2022 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.)

Last year, Disney’s magical Colombian comedy Encanto became the first animated film soundtrack to claim three simultaneous top 10s with “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, “Surface Pressure” and “The Family Madrigal”.

Despite the Barbie’s soundtrack making waves with UK listeners, it didn’t leave The Independent’s Adam White quite as impressed.

“Billie Eilish leads a soundtrack that’s as erratic as the movie that inspired it,” White wrote in his three-star review of the album.

The film itself, however, managed to impress critics, including The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey, who branded it a “near-miraculous achievement” in her five-star review.

Barbie, which is out in cinemas now, follows Margot Robbie’s eponymous doll on her adventure to the real world, where her journey of self-discovery begins.

Ryan Gosling stars as Barbie’s boyfriend, Ken, and Issa Rae, Simu Liu and Kate McKinnon also feature as other iterations of Kens and Barbies. America Ferrera and Will Ferrell play humans.

Speaking on a recent podcast, director Gerwig, who also co-wrote the script with her partner, director Noah Baumbach (White Noise), revealed a scene that ended up being removed from the final cut.

“We had like a fart opera in the middle [of Barbie]. I thought it was really funny. And that was not the consensus,” Gerwig, 39, said.

Additional reporting from Press Association.