The Disney Channel Actress to Pop Star Pipeline

From Miley Cyrus to Selena Gomez to Demi Lovato, and now to Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, there is a common trend found in these female pop stars' origins: Disney Channel. What began with drawing a mouse on a television network to now selling out arena tours is a pipeline that hasn’t seemed to end.

Recent examples include Disney Channel, “Bizaardvark” star, Rodrigo, who landed on the Billboard Hot 100 for her song “Driver’s License” for eight consecutive weeks according to Billboard, and Carpenter’s “Espresso,” which became a TikTok sensation topping the Billboard Global 200 chart and winning the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year. 

With these two recent Disney Channel pop-star breakouts, I wanted to trace back the history of some other notable Disney Channel stars who’ve broken into the music world from 2006 to 2024.

Miley Cyrus

Cyrus started her Disney star career after auditioning for Hannah Montana. Originally, Cyrus auditioned for the main character Hannah Montana’s best friend role at the age of 13. Still, she was cast as the lead, Miley Stewart, also known as Hannah Montana, after she gained the attention of the producer for her talent. The show premiered in 2006, where Cyrus played the role of a pop star, Hannah Montana, aiding her in her transition to music fame. What began with Cyrus’s song “The Climb” in 2009 from the Hannah Montana movie allowed Cyrus to attract “61 hits on the Hot 100 and two No. 1s: 2013’s “Wrecking Ball” and her Grammy-winning song, 2023’s “Flowers” according to the Billboard. Many articles have been written comparing artists like Carpenter to Hannah Montana with her approach as a pop star.

Selena Gomez 

Gomez was featured on many shows on Disney Channel. Still, she’s most famously known for her lead role as Alex Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place, an Emmy-awarded series about a girl who has a wizard family. Gomez became one of the highest-paid young TV stars. The show aired from 2007 to 2012. Gomez is also known for her role as Gwen in an episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, and she also played the role of Mikayla in a few episodes of Hannah Montana with Cyrus. Gomez started her music career singing the theme song for the show Wizards of Waverly Place. She then started a band, Selena Gomez & the Scene, which broke up in 2012. This finally inspired her to start her solo music career. Hit songs of Gomez’s include “Come and Get It,” “Lose You to Love Me,” and “Kill Em With Kindness.” She was recently nominated for a 2023 Grammy for Album of the Year for her album "Music of the Spheres," according to IMDB.

Demi Lovato 

Lovato’s Disney Channel feature began with the series As the Bell Rings, which aired from 2007-2008. However, they are most known on Disney Channel for their lead role in the movies Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2 as Mitchie Torres, a teenage girl who goes to music camp and wants to be a rockstar. Playing a musician in Camp Rock was a seamless way for Lovato to enter the music industry. Like Gomez, Lovato first signed with Hollywood Records, which is owned by Disney. After signing to the label, they released their debut album, Don't Forget (2008), which made it to No.2 on the Billboard 200. Lovato has many hits including “Sorry Not Sorry,” “Heart Attack,” and “Cool for the Summer.” Lovato has been nominated for many awards including a Grammy. According to The Grammy’s, “Lovato earned her first career GRAMMY nomination for 2016 for Best Pop Vocal Album for Confident.”

Olivia Rodrigo 

Rodrigo began her career on Disney Channel on the movie An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success in 2017. She then starred in Bizaardvark and ended her Disney Channel career in High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, a spin-off of the hit Disney Channel movie High School Musical. On the show, she started dating co-star actor and musician Joshua Bassett. It’s important to note that Bassett dated Carpenter shortly after Rodrigo and Bassett ended things. This breakup left Rodrigo heartbroken, inspiring her debut single “Drivers License,” which went viral on TikTok in 2021. Rodrigo, currently only 21 years old, has received numerous awards including Grammy awards and her ongoing Guts tour, which has grossed over “$184.6 million from over 1.4 million tickets sold,” according to Billboard. Like the many Disney stars before her, she’s continuing the tradition of Disney Channel stars entering success at a young age in the music world.

Sabrina Carpenter

The latest artist to break through on Disney Channel is Carpenter. Carpenter began acting on Disney Channel in Girl Meets World, a reboot of the hit series Boy Meets World. Carpenter played the role of Riley Matthews's best friend, Maya Hart. The show aired from 2014 to 2017. Like many Disney artists have done, she signed with Hollywood Records. She released her debut single, "Can't Blame a Girl for Trying" in 2014 gaining success. However, her success in music hasn’t seemed to heighten to a more global and mainstream scale until recently. Her playful love song “Espresso” was released this year and was Carpenter's first song to make it to the top 10 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the release of “Espresso”, Carpenter released Short n’ Sweet. According to Billboard, “The set earned 362,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in the week ending Aug. 29, according to Luminate — marking her best week ever, and the year’s third-largest debut.”

Many artists have made it into the music industry since their Disney beginnings. This transition does make sense, given that the Disney Channel is such a fantastic starting point for a young person's entry into entertainment. Still, looking back to the shows I watched as a kid, I never thought I'd see some of the actresses I used to watch after school every day get to where they are now. With these former Disney actresses succeeding in the mainstream music industry, I wonder which next pop star will emerge from Disney Channel.