Sure, the songs from High School Musical 2 look to be as promising and toe-tapping as the ones from the original, but it's not just about the music, it's about the money. The High School Musical franchise is a cash cow that never seems to run out of milk. All the kids out there need to watch it if they want to be cool, and all the parents need to watch if they want to have any idea what's going on in their kids' lives.

The original High School Musical soundtrack was the best selling album for all of 2006, selling more than 3.7 million copies. The soundtrack for the upcoming sequel is released today, August 14, and is likely to be the best selling album of the week, month, year, and possibly decade.

High School Musical has already spun off into a concert tour, a stage adaptation, and a recently announced ice show. The concert tour for High School Musical 2 will begin September 4 and possibly include star Zac Efron, who skipped the first tour. On November 6 of this year, the High School Musical video game will be released for the Nintendo Wii and Playstation 2, just in time for Christmas. It will certainly become one of this year's hottest gifts.

To the unindoctrinated, this may seem like crass commercialism, though it's actually just supply and demand. When High School Musical premiered in January 2006, no one expected it to be this big. The Disney Channel is simply giving the tween demographic exactly what they want: more High School Musical stuff. As recently as last month, reruns of the original film were pulling in almost 6 million viewers, which is a number some major network shows currently airing new episodes could only dream of getting.

When High School Musical 2 premieres this Friday, it will most likely be the highest-rated show of the week, on any network, cable or otherwise. Tweens will throw High School Musical parties to watch it together. They will then watch the numerous subsequent reruns which will add karaoke-style lyrics to the bottom of the screen, or which teach viewers at home to do the dance moves during commercial breaks. The numbers speak for themselves: if you're not watching High School Musical 2, then you gotta get'cha head in the game.


High School Musical 2 premieres this Friday, August 17 at 8pm on the Disney Channel. Check back each day this week for the rest of our Top 5 list.

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-John Kubicek, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: Billboard, Disney Channel
(Image courtesy of Amazon)