The High School Musical fever does not stop here as the highly successful Disney franchise has another award to add up to its string of honors. The soundtrack album of the Disney Channel Original Movie sequel was recognized by the 35th Annual American Music Awards as Best Soundtrack Album this year. The event was held last Sunday at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles , California , where cast members Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale, among others, were there to receive the award.



It is the first time in the history of the American Music Awards that the winners of the 35th Annual American Music Awards were garnered from online voting. The fans of High School Musical took this opportunity to vote for their favorite soundtrack, which beat the albums of Hairspray and Dreamgirls.

High School Musical 2's soundtrack, which was released in August, debuted at the number 1 spot on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, Amazon.com, and iTunes Store, where it initially sold 615,000 and shipped double platinum with 2 million copies during its first week of release. A month later, the tally increased significantly, and thus the album became the fourth-biggest first week sales of 2007. Within three months, the CD was able to sell over 3.5 million copies worldwide.

It isn't a surprise that the album has garnered huge sales in such a short period of time. The made-for-TV Disney film, which chronicles the young lovers Troy (Zac Efron) and Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) during their summer break at the resort owned by the family of antagonist and spoiled brat Sharpay (Ashley Tisdale), has also garnered an impressive 17.2 million viewers in the United States during its premiere, thus making it the highest rated basic cable broadcast in the history of the United States. Not only has the franchise spawned various product lines such as video games and other tween products, but it has also launched the solo careers of two of its main cast, Vanessa Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale, who have released their solo albums soon after the first High School Musical movie was aired.