A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Aly & AJ's Into the Rush Album (in honor of its 20TH ANNIVERSARY!)

   Welcome Back to Disney! 👋😊🎉I hope you enjoyed my last post on A Definitive Ranking of Every Song from Selena Gomez’s For You Album, and that you’re ready for some more NOSTALGIC FUN down music memory lane.🎶💿 ‘Cause today, for the 20th ANNIVERSARY, I’m talking all about one of the BEST, UNSKIPPABLE, and MOST ICONIC debut albums from a Disney Channel star…Well, from TWO Disney Channel stars, actually...Into the Rush by Aly and AJ.🤍💚🤎💿🎶

As I mentioned in my FIRST post of this little series of album posts I’m doing, this series of blog posts is all about going back and relistening to old albums/soundtracks from Disney Channel stars while they were on Disney or still associated with Disney, per the music label they signed with, Hollywood Records. Or, in some cases, Walt Disney Records. In other words, I plan on making individual, dedicated posts for each album/soundtrack by mostly every Disney Channel star who put out music through either of those labels. And for each dedicated album/soundtrack post, I provide an official ranking of every song from said album/soundtrack. Last month I talked about all of Selena Gomez’s Disney discography, and for the month of August (Well, just for today and tomorrow.) it’s all about Aly & AJ’s Disney discography. So, let’s get into it.😊

If you didn’t already know, Into the Rush is the debut studio album by the American pop-rock, sister duo Alyson “Aly” Michalka and Amanda Joy “AJ” Michalka.👩👩💿🎶 The album was released on August 16, 2005, by the Disney-owned label Hollywood Records.🎉With songs on the album recorded from 2004 to 2005. Into the Rush features 14 tracks, including the singles “Do You Believe in Magic” and “Rush”. It is in the genre of pop-rock and alternative rock. A deluxe edition of Into the Rush was released in 2006 with three all new songs, two new mixes of previous songs, and a bonus DVD. In 2021, a vinyl reissue of the album was also released. On August 15, 2025 (just yesterday), Aly and AJ released live recorded vinyl, CD, and cassette tape versions of Into the Rush, to commemorate its 20th anniversary.🥳

After the album’s initial release in 2005, it generally received positive reviews from music critics and became a commercial success. As of June 2013, Into the Rush had sold over 839,000 copies.👏On March 20, 2006, it was also certified Gold for over 500,000 copies sold.👏 Worldwide, Into the Rush sold 1,000,000 copies.👏 Into the Rush, combined with the sales of its Deluxe Edition, also became one of the top best-selling albums in the U.S. in 2006.👏 The album ranked at #112 on the Billboard 200 Albums end-of-year charts of 2006. And at #94 on the Japanese Albums Chart.👏👏 

The album sold 25,000 copies in its first week, and it debuted at #36.👏Into the Rush spent 40 weeks on the Billboard 200.👏 Its last position was at #123 before falling off the next week.👏 For nearly 30 weeks, though, Into the Rush was selling more than 25,000 copies a week. 👏Again, having ended up selling 839,000 copies in the U.S., and 1,000,000 copies worldwide.👏👏 

For this album (Into the Rush), Aly & AJ covered The Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1965 debut single, “Do You Believe in Magic”. Their version of the song was FIRST featured in the UNFORGETTABLE and ICONIC, 2005 Disney CLASSIC Now You See It…. It was also featured in the UNFORGETTABLE, OH-SO NOSTALGIC and UNFORGETTABLE 2007 film The Game Plan, as well as on the 2009 Wizards of Waverly Place soundtrack (which, I mentioned here), and the song also received airplay on Radio Disney. That single peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales Chart.👏 A music video for Aly and AJ’s “Do You Believe in Magic” was released in January 2005, after the premiere of Now You See It…, and it received heavy rotation on Disney Channel. Which, yes, I can certainly attest that it did. ‘Cause I vividly remember seeing the promos for the music video and watching the music video for the song for the first time in 2005, after watching that very nostalgic and special DCOM, and then just seeing it many times after that being played during commercial breaks on the channel. It's a VERY NOSTALGIC song and video. 

On March 18, 2005 (10 days after the day of my birth day😊🎂🎈🥳), “No One” was released as a single and received airplay on Radio Disney.🎉 “No One” was also featured in the ICONIC and TRULY one of the BEST movies EVER, the 2005 Walt Disney Pictures film Ice Princess, as well as on its accompanying soundtrack. A music video for the song was also released in March 2005 featuring scenes from Ice Princess, along with shots of the sister duo performing the song. On June 22, 2005 (the same day my little sister Amber was born. Again, not the same year, but just the same day.😊🎂🎈🥳), Aly and AJ’s cover of the Katrina and the Waves song “Walking on Sunshine” was released, and received airplay on Radio Disney.🎉That song was featured in the 2005 Walt Disney Pictures film Herbie: Fully Loaded, as well as on its accompanying soundtrack. A music video showing the sister duo arriving at a set and performing the song in front of the shooting crew, was also released in June 2005. 

Following Into the Rush’s release on August 16, 2005, “Never Far Behind” was released as a single on October 10, 2005.🎉 The song was released to Christian Adult Contemporary and Christian Contemporary Hit Radio formats, making it Aly and AJ’s FIRST single to be released outside of Radio Disney. “Never Far Behind” peaked at #28 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs Chart.👏 A fun and interesting fact that I didn’t even know until doing a little research about this album for this post, but that song was apparently originally written and recorded for a companion album to the ICONIC, and ONE of my FAVORITE movies EVER, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.😮 But that companion album was scrapped. So, therefore, “Never Far Behind” was added to the edition of the album sent to Christian music retailers, and was later included on the Deluxe Edition of Into the Rush in 2006. 

Aly and AJ’s single “Rush” was FIRST released to Radio Disney on October 14, 2005 to promote the ICONIC and UNFORGETTABLE Halloween Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) Twitches.🎉 The song was released as Aly and AJ’s FIRST official single nationwide by their label Hollywood Records, and as the album’s fifth single overall.👏👏 There were two accompanying music video versions of the song. The first version, which was released by Disney only, featured Aly and AJ performing the song live in concert with scenes from the movie, Twitches. While the second version, was directed by Marc Webb and shot in Hawaii.🏝🌊🌅🎤🎸🎸🎶 It portrays the sisters traveling to five locations: a beach, a campsite, a jungle, a bazaar and a music store. That second version premiered on February 15, 2006. “Rush” later grew to become extremely popular, which led to a mainstream release on February 28, 2006.  And it was later released for digital download on July 11, 2006, and on November 25, 2006 in Australia. “Rush” was Aly and AJ’s FIRST song to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, having peaked at #59.👏 

Another GREAT and ICONIC song by Aly and AJ from this album (Into the Rush), “On the Ride”, was released as the sixth single on March 7, 2006.🎉(Literally, ONE DAY before the day I was born.😊🎂🎈🥳) The song was featured in one of the BEST, MOST NOSTALGIC, and ICONIC Disney Channel Original Movies (DCOMs) Cow Belles, which starred Aly and AJ. The song is not only featured in Cow Belles, but its music video also incorporates scenes from the film. Aly and AJ’s first live concert DVD On the Ride was named after this song, as well. Another ICONIC and UNFORGETTABLE song, “Chemicals React” was on the deluxe edition reissue of Into the Rush. Aly and AJ co-wrote the song with Antonina Armato and Tim James of popular production duo Rock Mafia, who also produced the track. “Chemicals React” was the second mainstream single from Into the Rush and the seventh overall single, released to radio by Hollywood Records on June 27, 2006.🎉 Again, to promote the deluxe edition of the album. This song also served as Aly and AJ’s debut international release. Its accompanying music video was directed by Chris Applebaum and features the sister duo performing the song on a set-up stage. “Chemicals React” peaked at #50 on the Billboard Hot 100.👏 And on July 22, 2022, a re-recorded version of “Chemicals React” was released. 

Speaking of the deluxe version of this album, on August 8, 2006, Into the Rush: Deluxe Edition was released. It contains a re-ordered track listing with new versions of the songs “Collapsed” and “Something More”, three extra songs, “Never Far Behind”, “Shine”, and “Chemicals React”, as well as a bonus DVD with three music videos. A remixed version of “Chemicals React” would also later be included on Aly & AJ’s third studio album, 2007’s Insomniatic. 

Like I briefly mentioned before, Into the Rush received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. For instance, Fran Grauman from about.com gave the album a 4-star rating, praising Aly and AJ’s “ton of talent” and “experience”.👍🏻To which I agree, but I would give this album 5/5 stars.😊AllMusic gave Into the Rush a mixed review, saying that it “doesn’t venture further than offering a few empowering ballads”, to hand them 2.5 stars after.👎🏻To which I totally disagree. There is more to this album than just “a few empowering ballads”. AMG praised Aly and AJ for having a real singing ability, citing “Aly and AJ can actually sing — their vocals have way more personality than prefab Disney hopefuls like Hayden Panettiere or Caleigh Peters — and the arrangements are slick without resorting to flashily empty pap”. Yes, Aly and AJ can sing and are very musically inclined, which you can hear from this album. But let’s not put down other Disney girls like Hayden Panettiere, and I’m sorry but I don’t know who Caleigh Peters is but I'm sure she's good, too. And I'm not sure what "pap" means. Do they mean "pop"?🤔That review finished with “Into the Rush is listenable, likeable, and more about being memorable than being a Disney product.” Okay, true. But again, what do the critics really know anyway? 'Cause REAL, TRUE fans of Aly and AJ know that this album is more than just listenable and likeable. It’s LOVEable and just TRULY AMAZING and SO WORTH listening to every day. Every song is GREAT. UNSKIPPABLE. This album is just not talked about enough. Underrated for sure. 

But again, as I’ve mentioned many times before when talking about these albums from Disney Channel stars, the numbers, and all that chart stuff really means nothing to me, but they were wins for Aly and AJ, and therefore something I thought was still worth mentioning here. But those statistics or reviews did not make me enjoy this album any more or any less than I did before doing this relisten. Nor did they affect my thoughts and opinions about the album back then, when I was a kid listening to these songs, because I never looked at that stuff back then either. I’ve always just LOVED a lot of the songs from this album for what they are, and that’s why I am SO EXCITED to finally get to talk about ALL of the songs from this album and share my ranking of them here with you.😊🤍💚🤎

But first, before we really get into the songs from this album and my ranking of them, as always, I want to just give my brief history and memories associated with Into the Rush. So, I was definitely an Aly and AJ fan as a kid, which is when they hit the scene. I saw and watched some episodes of Phil of the Future when it was airing on Disney Channel at the time. I wasn’t fully invested in the show, because I was really young when it was on at the time. I mean, I was only seven years old and I wasn't a big TV watcher yet. But I did catch certain episodes or scenes of the show on the channel that I still remember to this day. So, I “knew” Aly from seeing her on that show. Also, I'm not sure when the music video for "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" with the Disney Channel Circle of Stars came out, but I know Aly was also in that so I'm sure I recognized her from that, too. And then I have such a fond, vivid memory of seeing the promos for Aly's DCOM Now You See It... on Disney Channel and watching the premiere of that movie with my sisters in 2005, and then seeing Aly and AJ’s music video for their song featured in that movie, which was “Do You Believe in Magic”. That music video would have been the FIRST thing I saw of the sisters together. Then my sisters and I also loved Ice Princess when it came out. My older sister actually had gotten the DVD of that movie when it came out in 2005, and so I have fond, special, vivid memories of us watching that movie together quite a lot. To which we knew and loved Aly and AJ’s song and music video for that movie, as well. I also vividly remember seeing the “No One” music video always playing during commercials breaks on Disney Channel at the time.

For Christmas in 2005 my sisters and I also all got our own VideoNows (iykyk) and we got videos to go along with them, and one of the videos my older sister Ariel got was Aly & AJ’s music video for “No One” (see pic below), and I remember us loving watching that video. Another special, vivid memory I have of watching that little VideoNow video with my older sister when we were kids back then. I specifically remember when watching that VideoNow video of Aly & AJ, my older sister and I like picking and choosing which one of them we were, because my sisters and I would always do that with like TV show characters and stuff like that. And if I remember correctly, I remember my older sister and I were like I’m Aly (probably because her name was in my name and later on in my teens my sister would nickname me Aly. So it made sense.) and my older sister Ariel we said was AJ. Even though AJ is the younger one and I'm younger than my sister Ariel, but that's just what we thought at the time. I can see how I'm definitely more Aly, though, even to this day. And then, yeah, like with Mary-Kate and Ashley there are only two of them, so our little sister Amber couldn’t be one. We always said she was Lizzie Olsen, because she was the youngest sister.😊💞👧👧👧

Anyway, when Cow Belles premiered on Disney Channel in 2006, I also remember my sisters and I watching that for the first time together by ourselves in our parents room. Seeing all the promos leading up to that, and the premiere of Hannah Montana which Aly and AJ were apart of helping introduce . Seeing the music video of “On the Ride” from that Cow Belles during commercial breaks on Disney Channel. So, basically just any Disney movie or show I saw as a kid that Aly and AJ were associated with I knew about and therefore also knew about their music. I was definitely a fan of theirs. But for some reason I didn’t collect their CDs as a kid/tween/teen. My older sister did have, I think, the deluxe version of Into the Rush, because I remembered the album cover of that immediately when I saw it recently for this. But I don’t remember my sister owning the actual original version of Into the Rush. Which, I wonder why not?🤔 Though, I do have a fond, vivid memory of my older sister getting the CD of Insomniatic, which I’ll talk more about tomorrow when I talk about that album from Aly and AJ.😉

So, even though I never owned any physical copies of Aly and AJ’s albums, I still heard and listened to A LOT of their songs from their albums throughout the years. ‘Cause that’s another thing. The songs from this album never get old. In my late teens I went back to listen to some of these songs, watch their music videos, and other videos with them on YouTube, as well as during a time in my early 20s I went back to listen to their old music. And over the past couple years I’ve also rewatched some of their music videos on YouTube when just scrolling through watching random things with my sisters on YouTube. Even just this year I listened to their newest album Silver Deliverer. Which I highly recommend one to check out, because that didn't disappoint either. But I realized when starting this album “re-listen” that I had never actually listened to this whole album before. There were definitely a few songs from Into the Rush that I had never heard. They sounded kind of familiar, but to my recollection I think this was the VERY FIRST TIME I actually have listened to this whole album from beginning to end. Which made this even more FUN and EXCITING, because I didn’t know every song. Although, I do now. And doing this definitely made me want to purchase the vinyl or CD of Into the Rush. Even though my little sister bought all of Aly and AJ’s CDs not too long ago, and I could just borrow hers, but I kind of want to have my own.😊💿🎶

Overall, I’ve always just loved any sister act. Mary-Kate and Ashley being the FIRST, Aly and AJ…and I can’t think of any specific other famous sisters at the moment, but me being one of three sisters I can just relate to that kind of relationship and connect more to whatever content such artists put out. ‘Cause I’m very close to my sisters as well. It’s a very special kind of relationship.💕👧👧👧 So, I’ve always liked that about Aly and AJ because you can definitely feel their closeness and bond and all that good stuff just by listening to their music and watching their movies. And my sisters and I are also big music lovers. Always have been. We love to sing and just listen to lots of music. So, this album is just perfect for that sister duo music magic. Which is why I can’t wait any longer to get into this album review/ranking. So, what are we waiting for? I know this might be out of the blue, but do you believe in magic? Don't slow down because we're walking on sunshine, into the rush, on the ride to something more...Okay, again, I'm not good at this rhyming titles of songs thing.🤣😊So let's just get into A Definitive of Every Song from Aly & AJ’s Into the Rush Album!🎉💿🎶🤍💚🤎

Oh, and just a brief note before we begin: The original release of Into the Rush only included 14 songs. But I couldn't NOT include the songs added on the deluxe edition of the album. So, I did include ONLY the THREE new songs that were added to the deluxe edition of Into the Rush, as well as the two new versions of "Something More" and "Collapsed". Just because the new versions of those two songs were different enough from the original versions to include on this ranking along with their original versions. I hope that makes sense. If not, you'll understand more once you see my ranking and I get to talking about each song. So, for real this time, let's get into A Definitive of Every Song from Aly & AJ’s Into the Rush Album!🎉💿🎶🤍💚🤎

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(from LEAST to MOST FAVORITE)...

#19 "I Am One of Them" 

#18 "Shine"

#17 "Never Far Behind"

#16 "In A Second" 

#15 "Speak for Myself" 

#14 "Sticks and Stones" 

#13 "Protecting Me" 

#12 "Slow Down" 

#11 "Collapsed" (new version)

#10 "Collapsed" 

#9 "Out of the Blue"

#8 "Something More"

#7 "Something More" (new version)

#6 "Chemicals React" 

#5 "Do You Believe in Magic"

#4 "Walking on Sunshine" 

#3 "Rush" 

 

 

#2 "On the Ride" 

#1 "No One" 

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Well, that concludes A Definitive Ranking of EVERY Song from Aly & AJ’s Into the Rush Album!🎉🎶💿🤍💚🤎I really enjoyed getting to go back and listen to these songs and reminisce about the memories I have of them, and when it came to a few to hear them for the FIRST TIME EVER, because I LOVE discovering new music. And I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I did creating it, and that it also brought back some FUN, NOSTALGIC memories for you, too, or maybe even just introduced you to some GREAT NEW (even though it’s technically old) MUSIC, as well.😊

Into the Rush is TRULY a GREAT album. There really isn’t one bad song. So even though I put some songs lower on this ranking, they are still ALL good songs. In fact, the song that I ranked very last from this album is a GREAT song, just like I said before, when compared to all the others it had to go last. But also like I said before, I would still go back and listen to ALL of these songs. Relistening to this album was very nostalgic, even though I didn’t remember hearing every song from it before doing this. So, it was fun and interesting listening to this album straight through from beginning to end for what felt like the very first time I have. And I highly suggest anyone to listen to this album, because it’s a BANGER. And just OH-SO NOSTALGIC. A feel-good album for sure. Even though pretty much every song makes me emotional, but in the BEST way possible. Probably because this album just takes me right back to my childhood, which was the BEST EVER.

Like I mentioned earlier, I feel like this album, and Aly & AJ especially, are extremely UNDERRATED when it comes to the music industry. And when it comes to what they gave Disney Channel. In other words, they definitely helped define the GOLDEN ERA of Disney Channel. They are a part of what made Disney Channel what we Gen-Z'ers grew up loving and still LOVE. Listening to this album just reconfirmed all of that, and how Aly and AJ are both just such TRUE singer-songwriters and musicians and were from the start. Two people who deserve more credit and hype for what they do and did. So, hopefully this post gives them just some of that hype and credit that they so truly deserve. 'Cause again, Aly and AJ made some BANGER, HIT songs and are definitely two artists that I think of instantly whenever I think about the GOLDEN ERA, the BEST ERA, of Disney Channel. And ALL of the songs from this album are just one reason why.👏👏😊

Speaking of the songs from Into the Rush, I wasn’t that surprised at my ranking of these songs because my top, like, eight, have always been my top favorites from this album. Which, maybe that’s just because they are the ones I already knew before doing this. But those TOP 8 were definitely the hardest to rank, because I do LOVE them so much. They are the BEST OF THE BEST. At least they are the songs that I think of the most when I think of this album. But I even found some new favorite songs on this album that I’ll be adding to my daily music playlist. I’m just still kind of shocked, but not really, because for this to be Aly and AJ’s FIRST debut album, it’s just SO AMAZING. Like WOW. What a way to launch themselves into a career.👏🏻👏🏻

Having said all that, I will definitely be listening to this album again, and I would highly suggest everyone to do the same. Especially all the girlies and sisters reading this. And, well, I can’t wait to talk about Aly and AJ’s next album. So, make sure you hit that follow button to get notified when my next post goes up, comment down below what your favorite song(s) is/are from Into the Rush, and come Back to Disney soon for more FUN, NOSTALGIA, and just GREAT Aly & AJ MUSIC! 👋🤍💚🤎🎉🎶💿✌️HAPPY 20TH ANNIVERSARY Into the Rush!🥳