9 Actors Who Surprisingly Made the Billboard 100 Chart

There have always been those versatile entertainers who have been successful as both actors and musicians. Bette Midler and Queen Latifah, for example, have had hits both on record and on screen.

But there are also actors who, even today, you may not think of when it comes to the Billboard 100 chart, which measures the most popular songs. So who has surprisingly picked up a hot musical single while being better known for their acting skills?

Eddie Murphy
Don Johnson
Patrick Swayze
Bruce Willis
Jimmy Fallon
Jennifer Lawrence
Ryan Gosling
Kristen Bell
Bradley Cooper

Eddie Murphy

In the ’80s, Eddie Murphy was best known as one of the stars of Saturday Night Live, but he also recorded an album with the one-hit wonder “Party All the Time,” which reached No. 2 on the Billboard chart with help from producer Rick James. Murphy later said he made the album How Could It Be on a dare from comedian Richard Pryor, who said he would pay Murphy $100,000 to make a music album with no jokes. However, Murphy said Pryor never paid up.

Don Johnson

Another ’80s actor who made the Billboard chart that decade was Don Johnson, who starred in the hit TV series Miami Vice when he made his debut. Johnson’s “Heartbeat” from his album of the same name reached No. 5 on the chart in 1986. He returned to the chart two years later with “Till I Loved You,” a duet with his then-girlfriend, Barbra Streisand.

Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze didn’t just star in 1987’s Dirty Dancing but also sang on the movie’s hit soundtrack. The album included classics like “Be My Baby” by The Ronettes, along with new songs, including one with Swayze taking over lead vocals. “She’s Like the Wind” made it all the way to No. 3 on the Billboard 100 chart in February 1988.

Bruce Willis

While there may still be debate about whether Die Hard is a Christmas movie, there’s no debate that Bruce Willis is also a Billboard 100 artist. “Respect Yourself,” originally recorded by The Staples Singers, reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987. The song featured June Pointer of the Pointer Sisters and appeared on Willis’ album The Return of Bruno.

Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon has performed different songs over his career and even released his debut album in 2002, but it was a song that made him “gross” that got him on the Billboard 100. “Ew” featuring will.i.am was based on a character Fallon created for The Tonight Show and reached No. 24 on the Billboard chart.

Jennifer Lawrence

Like Patrick Swayze, it was a song on the soundtrack of her hit movie that landed Jennifer Lawrence on the Billboard Hot 100. Lawrence had already completed two movies in the successful Hunger Games series when she was enlisted to do the vocals for the song “The Hanging Tree” on the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1. Her performance propelled the song to No. 12 on the Billboard chart in 2014.

Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling is not just Ken, but also a big-name actor and a Billboard 100 artist, with “I’m Just Ken” from the Barbie movie soundtrack reaching No. 87 on the chart in 2023. The song was also nominated for an Oscar, with Gosling singing the hit in an epic Academy Awards performance to celebrate the nomination. (It ended up losing another song from the movie Barbie, “What Was I Made For?“)

Kristen Bell

The soundtrack for the 2013 movie Frozen made it to the top of Billboard’s best-selling albums chart thanks in part to the smash hit “Let It Go” sung by Idina Menzel. But three songs from the soundtrack, featuring Kristen Bell, also made it to the Billboard Hot 100, including “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” and “Love Is an Open Door.”

Bradley Cooper

Bradley Cooper made the Billboard 100 with a little help from someone very familiar with topping that chart. Cooper and Lady Gaga paired up for the hit “Shallow” from the movie A Star is Born, which ended up topping the Billboard chart in 2019. Cooper and Gaga also performed the song at the Oscars, earning Gaga a Best Song Oscar for her work as a writer on the chart topper.