During production of the first season of Hannah Montana, Cyrus commented that at the moment, they were focused on improving the series as much as possible, however recording a soundtrack for it was a plausible plan for the future.

These plans were expected to capitalize on promotional efforts previously used for Hilary Duff, who had successfully transitioned from the title character of the television series Lizzie McGuire into a career in the music industry in the early 2000s.

[4] In the series, Cyrus portrays the character Miley Stewart, a teenager who lives the secret double life as the pop star Hannah Montana.

[8] The series' theme song "The Best of Both Worlds" was released as the lead single from Hannah Montana on March 28, 2006;[9] it reached number 92 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

She performed as Hannah Montana, and served as a "rotating" opening act in place of recording artists Vanessa Hudgens, Jordan Pruitt and groups Everlife and T-Squad.

It primarily served as a promotional tool for the recently released record Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus (2007);[13] however, "Just Like You", "Pumpin' Up the Party", "I Got Nerve", and "The Best of Both Worlds" from the original soundtrack were included in its set list.

Writing for AllMusic, Heather Phares enjoyed Cyrus' deliveries of "cute, well-written songs", and added that the overall project was "sweet, starry-eyed, [and] utterly charming".

[18] However, Chris Willman provided a more mixed review, commenting that Cyrus appeared to "mimic Avril, Ashlee, and Britney simultaneously", and felt that the concept of leading a double life was "a nice fantasy for Brangelina, but a weird one to push on little girls.

"[17] David Hiltbrand was also critical of the record, stating that its "generic pop" would irritate adult listeners, but acknowledged that it was "slickly executed" for appealing to its younger audience.

[19] During the week of October 25, initial sales projections recognized Hannah Montana, The Black Parade by My Chemical Romance, and Once Again by John Legend as the most-likely records that would reach number one on the US Billboard 200.

On November 1, Hannah Montana officially debuted at number one with first-week sales of 281,000 copies, making a difference of 41,000 units more than The Black Parade, which charted in second place.