10 of the Biggest Music Careers Launched by Sitcoms

Television has always been capable of turning actors into household names, but the right sitcom can also manufacture a music star. Sometimes the series builds in the transition, with a young performer singing onscreen before releasing records under their own name. In other cases, a sitcom simply gives an ambitious musician the audience needed to make the leap from actor to recording artist.

The results have ranged from short-lived teen-idol success to careers that eventually filled arenas and dominated the charts. Some performers gradually left music behind, while others became so successful that younger fans may not realize they were introduced to the public through a television comedy. From a 1950s family sitcom to the Disney Channel star-making machine, these shows launched 10 major music careers.

Related: 10 Surprising Musical Moments from Popular Shows

10 Zendaya

Before she became an Emmy-winning dramatic actress and major movie star, Zendaya introduced millions of young viewers to the Disney Channel sitcom Shake It Up. The series followed best friends Rocky Blue and CeCe Jones, played by Zendaya and Bella Thorne, as they landed jobs dancing on a fictional television program called Shake It Up, Chicago!

The show naturally created opportunities for both actresses to record music. Zendaya and Thorne released the duet “Watch Me,” while Zendaya contributed several additional songs to Disney projects before signing with Hollywood Records. Her self-titled debut album arrived in 2013, the same year Shake It Up ended. Its lead single, “Replay,” reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and established Zendaya as more than a sitcom performer.

Acting ultimately became her primary focus, but music remained part of her career. In 2017, she recorded the successful duet “Rewrite the Stars” with Zac Efron for The Greatest Showman. Zendaya may have released less music than the other stars on this list, but Shake It Up successfully launched both sides of her career.^[1]

9 Hilary Duff

Hilary Duff became one of the defining teen stars of the early 2000s as the title character in the Disney Channel sitcom Lizzie McGuire. The series followed an ordinary middle school student dealing with family, friendships, and adolescent embarrassment, with an animated version of Lizzie frequently revealing what she was really thinking.

Duff began recording music while the series was still airing. Her first studio album, the holiday collection Santa Claus Lane, appeared in 2002. The following year brought both The Lizzie McGuire Movie and her first mainstream pop album, Metamorphosis. The film placed Lizzie in a musical storyline involving an Italian pop star, while its soundtrack gave Duff another opportunity to sing for the audience that had watched her grow up on television.

Metamorphosis reached number one on the Billboard 200 and eventually achieved multi-platinum sales. Singles such as “So Yesterday” and “Come Clean” helped Duff develop a recording identity beyond Lizzie, leading to several more successful albums. Although the character created her original fan base, Duff proved that she could carry a music career under her own name.^[2]

8 Ricky Nelson

Few performers have enjoyed a more effective promotional platform than Ricky Nelson. He spent his adolescence playing a fictionalized version of himself on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, the long-running family sitcom starring his real parents and older brother. Viewers therefore watched Ricky grow from a mischievous child into a handsome teenager before he ever attempted to sell them a record.

In 1957, the 16-year-old Nelson recorded a cover of Fats Domino’s “I’m Walkin’.” He performed it on the sitcom in the episode “Ricky the Drummer,” and the single climbed to number four on the pop chart. His debut album reached number one, while the later single “Poor Little Fool” became the first song to top Billboard’s newly introduced Hot 100.

Ozzie Nelson quickly recognized television’s promotional power and began incorporating his son’s performances into additional episodes. Viewers could watch Ricky sing in their living rooms and then purchase the record the next day. The strategy helped transform him into one of America’s first television-created teen idols, although his talent and rockabilly sound eventually earned him respect beyond his clean-cut sitcom image.^[3]

7 David Cassidy

Inspired loosely by the real-life musical group the Cowsills, The Partridge Family centered on a widowed mother and her five children who formed a pop band and traveled in a brightly painted school bus. Shirley Jones played mother Shirley Partridge, while her real-life stepson David Cassidy was cast as eldest son and lead singer Keith.

Producers originally hired Cassidy as an actor and reportedly didn’t realize how well he could sing. Once he demonstrated his ability, he became the lead vocalist on the Partridge Family recordings. Cassidy and Jones were the only cast members whose voices regularly appeared on the records, with professional studio musicians and backing singers completing the group.

The television series and its fictional band debuted in 1970. That same year, “I Think I Love You” spent three weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Cassidy soon began recording solo albums and performing for enormous crowds of screaming fans. Songs such as “Cherish,” “How Can I Be Sure,” and “Daydreamer” extended his popularity beyond the sitcom, particularly in Britain. A role meant to launch a television comedy instead turned Cassidy into one of the decade’s biggest teen idols.^[4]

6 Sabrina Carpenter

Sabrina Carpenter sang and auditioned for acting roles from childhood, but Girl Meets World gave her the national exposure to connect the two careers. The Disney Channel continuation of the popular sitcom Boy Meets World cast Carpenter as Maya Hart, the witty and rebellious best friend of Riley Matthews.

Carpenter’s recording career developed alongside the series. During its run, she released her debut EP, Can’t Blame a Girl for Trying, followed by the albums Eyes Wide Open and Evolution. Her Disney audience provided a valuable starting point, but lasting pop stardom did not arrive immediately. Carpenter spent years refining her music, touring, and gradually moving away from the carefully controlled image associated with child performers.

Her persistence eventually paid off. The album Emails I Can’t Send produced the popular singles “Nonsense” and “Feather,” while 2024’s Short n’ Sweet debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. “Espresso” became a global hit, and “Please Please Please” gave Carpenter her first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100. What began with the sarcastic best friend on a Disney sitcom ultimately developed into one of the largest pop careers of her generation.^[5]

5 Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez began acting on Barney & Friends, but the Disney Channel sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place transformed her into a star. Gomez played Alex Russo, one of three siblings training to become the sole wizard allowed to retain magical powers as an adult. The mischievous Alex was rarely the most responsible Russo, but she was easily the show’s breakout character.

Disney soon began developing Gomez as a recording artist. She sang the sitcom’s theme song, “Everything Is Not What It Seems,” and contributed music to several Disney soundtracks. In 2009, she became the lead singer of Selena Gomez & the Scene. The group released three albums during and immediately after the show’s run, producing hits such as “Naturally,” “Who Says,” and “Love You Like a Love Song.”

Gomez officially began her solo recording career with Stars Dance in 2013, the year after Wizards of Waverly Place ended. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, while “Come & Get It” became her first solo Top 10 hit. Although she later returned to television with Only Murders in the Building, her years as Alex Russo had already provided the audience for a major pop career.^[6]

4 The Monkees

Most performers on this list used a successful sitcom to launch a music career. The Monkees were different because the television show and recording group were designed as one enormous entertainment package. Producers Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider created the NBC sitcom The Monkees after being inspired by the Beatles movie A Hard Day’s Night. Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork played a struggling rock band whose attempts to find success usually ended in comic chaos.

Behind the scenes, professional songwriters and studio musicians initially created much of the group’s music. The strategy nevertheless produced genuine hits, including “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Daydream Believer,” and the Neil Diamond-penned “I’m a Believer.” Millions of viewers saw the songs performed each week, making the sitcom an unusually effective promotional vehicle.

The four stars eventually rebelled against their limited involvement and fought for greater control over the records released under their names. On the 1967 album Headquarters, they played most of the instruments themselves, and the album reached number one. A fictional sitcom band had turned into a real touring and recording act—one that continued reuniting long after its television series ended.^[7]

3 Janet Jackson

Janet Jackson came from an extraordinarily famous musical family, but her public career began largely in acting. At age 10, she was cast as Penny Gordon Woods on the sitcom Good Times. The emotionally demanding role introduced Jackson to a national audience and showed that the youngest member of the Jackson family had her own talents.

After Good Times, Jackson appeared in A New Kind of Family and played Willis Jackson’s girlfriend, Charlene DuPrey, on Diff’rent Strokes. She later joined the musical drama Fame. By the time her first album was released in 1982, television had already made her a familiar face. However, neither that album nor its follow-up, Dream Street, established her as a major singer.

That changed when Jackson separated her career from her father’s management and worked with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. Her 1986 album Control produced hits including “What Have You Done for Me Lately,” “Nasty,” and “When I Think of You.” It transformed the former sitcom actress into a pop icon with a sound and image independent of her famous brothers.^[8]

2 Ariana Grande

Ariana Grande had appeared in the Broadway musical 13, but her major breakthrough came in 2010 when she was cast as Cat Valentine on the Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious. Set at a performing arts high school, the show gave Grande opportunities to act, sing, and display the impressive vocal range that would soon overshadow her television character.

Grande recorded vocals for the show’s soundtracks while also posting cover songs online. Those performances caught Republic Records’ attention, and they signed her in 2011. Her first single, “Put Your Hearts Up,” leaned heavily into her wholesome Nickelodeon image, but Grande later rejected its bubblegum style and began developing music that better reflected her R&B influences.

Her debut album, Yours Truly, arrived in 2013 as Victorious aired its final episodes and Grande moved into the spinoff Sam & Cat. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, while “The Way,” featuring Mac Miller, reached the Top 10. Grande soon left sitcom acting behind and developed into one of the dominant pop singers of her generation, although her later role as Glinda in the Wicked films brought her acting and musical careers together again.^[9]

1 Miley Cyrus

No sitcom has blended a performer’s fictional and real music careers more completely than Hannah Montana. Miley Cyrus played Miley Stewart, an ordinary teenager secretly performing as the famous pop singer Hannah Montana. Her real-life father, country singer Billy Ray Cyrus, played her onscreen father and manager.

The series premiered on the Disney Channel in 2006 and quickly became a cultural phenomenon. Cyrus recorded albums, toured, and appeared in concert films as Hannah, making the fictional singer almost as recognizable as the actress playing her. The 2007 double album Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus began separating the two identities by devoting one disc to Hannah and another to Cyrus performing under her own name.

Cyrus released her first album without Hannah Montana branding, Breakout, in 2008. Her later reinventions took her through dance pop, country, rock, and experimental music, producing hits such as “Party in the U.S.A.,” “Wrecking Ball,” “The Climb,” and “Flowers.” She sometimes appeared eager to distance herself from her Disney character, but eventually embraced the role that had introduced her voice to the world. As she explained during the show’s 20th-anniversary celebration, reconnecting Hannah and Miley let her reclaim an essential part of her history.^[10]