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Cuphead is the first gaming soundtrack to top the Billboard Jazz Charts

It's a new milestone for video games, as Studio MDHR and iam8bit are celebrating Cuphead being the first video game soundtrack to ever top the Billboard Jazz Charts.

Ozzie Mejia

September 11, 2019 3:50 PM

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It's not often that one hears about a video game soundtrack cracking any of the Billboard music charts. Such a rare occasion deserves some recognition, so let's take a moment to once again appreciate the amazing sounds of the Cuphead soundtrack. On top of its vintage 1930's cartoon art style, Studio MDHR's run-and-gun boss battler has been heavily praised for its original jazz soundtrack. Cuphead's musical score has proven to be such a well-made piece of work that the Cuphead 2xLP vinyl soundtrack recently topped the Billboard Jazz Charts.

Cuphead's feat marks the first time that a video game soundtrack has ever climbed to #1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts. It currently sits above Michael Buble's "Love," Sara Gazarek's "Thirsty Ghost," and Eliane Elias' "Love Stories." The Cuphead 2xLP vinyl soundtrack was released under the iam8bit label back in late August. This abridged vinyl selection is currently available for $40.

While Cuphead marks the first time a gaming soundtrack has topped the jazz charts, it's not the first time that video games and Billboard's charts have crossed over. The folks at iam8bit have also found their way on the Billboard charts with music from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Persona 5, as well as music from Cartoon Network's acclaimed animated series, Steven Universe.

This is the latest notch on the belt for Cuphead's soundtrack. The musical score has also taken home awards for Best Soundtrack from the 2018 BAFTA Awards, the 2018 Game Audio Network Guild Awards, and Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards in 2017.

Up next for Studio MDHR is Cuphead's first DLC pack, The Delicious Last Course. It was recently delayed to 2020, but is still set to come to PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. That still won't be the end for Cuphead, as a Netflix show is also apparently on the horizon.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?