2006: Breakthrough with Hannah Montana

Cyrus at 2008 MTV Video Music Awards

At age 11, Cyrus learned about the casting for what became Hannah Montana, a Disney Channel children's television series about a school girl with a secret double life as a teen pop star. Cyrus sent in a tape auditioning for the show's best friend role, but received a call asking her to audition for the lead, "Chloe Stewart".^[28] After sending in a new tape and flying to Hollywood for further auditions,^[29] Cyrus was told that she was too young and too small for the part.^[29][30] However, her persistence and ability to sing in addition to act led the show's producers to invite her back for further auditions. Cyrus eventually received the lead, renamed "Miley Stewart" after herself, at the age of twelve.^[29] Hannah Montana became an instant hit and propelled Cyrus to teen idol status, according to The Daily Telegraph.^[26] The series premiered on March 24, 2006, to the largest audience ever for a Disney Channel show^[31] and soon became one of the highest-rated series on basic cable, elevating Cyrus's wealth and fame along with it.^[32] Time magazine reports that Cyrus's "phenom[enal]" success is due partially to her talent and partially to "Disney learning to use its vast, multimedia holdings" and market Cyrus and Hannah Montana appropriately.^[33] Cyrus eventually became the first artist to have deals in television, film, consumer products, and music within The Walt Disney Company.^[34]
As Cyrus' career took off, Tish Cyrus made several critical decisions regarding her daughter's representation. She signed Cyrus with Mitchell Gossett, director of the youth division at Cunningham Escott Slevin Doherty. Gossett, who specializes in creating child stars, had arranged for Cyrus's auditions for Hannah Montana and is credited with "discovering" her.^[34][35] For Cyrus's music career, Tish followed the advice of Cyrus' godmother, country singer Dolly Parton, and signed Cyrus with Jason Morey of Morey Management Group. "Dolly said the Moreys are people you can trust around your daughter," Tish Cyrus recalls, "and she said they have good morals, which is not always the case in this business."^[36] According to trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter, Parton's advice was "the best advice [Tish] could [have gotten] on who should rep her daughter."^[36] Tish also recruited Billy Ray's business manager to manage her daughter's finances. Tish herself continues to co-manage or produce many of Cyrus's career decisions.^[36] For her education, Cyrus enrolled at Options for Youth Charter Schools^[37] and studied with a private tutor on the set of her television show.^[38]
The theme song for Hannah Montana, known as "The Best of Both Worlds", was released on March 28, 2006.^[39] "The Best of Both Worlds" is credited to "Hannah Montana", the pop star Cyrus portrays on the series by the same name. As with other songs credited to Montana, Cyrus typically dressed as the character when performing the song live.^[40] The song became Cyrus' first charting song, when it debuted at number 92 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[41] The song also had success in countries such as the UK and Ireland, where it peaked at number 43 and 17, respectively.^[42][43] Dressed as Hannah Montana, Cyrus opened for The Cheetah Girls on twenty dates of their The Party's Just Begun Tour, beginning on September 15, 2006.^[44] On October 24 of same year, Walt Disney Records released the first Hannah Montana soundtrack. Of the nine tracks on the soundtrack performed by Cyrus, eight were credited to "Hannah Montana" and one, a duet with her father titled "I Learned from You", was credited to Cyrus as herself. Cyrus's first release under her own name had been a cover of James Baskett's "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah", released on April 4, 2006, on the fourth edition of DisneyMania.^[45] The soundtrack immediately proved to be a success, debuting at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart with first week sales of 281,000 copies.^[46] The album managed, to stay at the top of the chart during its second week,^[47] and went on to sell over 3.7 million copies worldwide.^[48] During this time period, Cyrus also released the song "Ready, Set, Don't Go", a collaboration with her father.^[49] It became her first Top 40 hit credited as herself, peaking at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[50] It also became her first Top 10 hit on the Hot Country Songs chart, peaking at number 4.<sup>[51]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miley_Cyrus</sup>