Once upon a time, there was nothing more popular than Miley Stewart and her pop star alter ego Hannah Montana.
When Disney Channel debuted a sitcom about an average teenage girl who just so happened to be living a double life as a world-famous pop star by night, the world had never heard of Miley Cyrus. But that all changed when Hannah Montana premiered on March 24, 2006 with 5.4 million people tuning in, garnering the cable network the highest ratings in history.
Over the course of four seasons and 98 episodes, tweens everywhere became obsessed with Miley—both Stewart and Cyrus—making her and, to a lesser degree, co-stars Emily Osment and Mitchell Musso household names.
The series spawned four soundtracks, one to correspond with each season, a 3D concert film and a feature film (each with a soundtrack of their own, as well), turning Miley (the real one) into a pop star on par with Hannah’s level of fame. It also helped return her dad Billy Ray Cyrus (who played her father on the series) back into the spotlight over a decade after he scored a hit with the iconic “Achy Breaky Heart.”
