Hamilton Album Makes History

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton rose to a new peak on Billboard’s albums chart last week, climbing to #2 on the Billboard 200 after the show’s film premiere July 3 on Disney+ (watch here), making it the highest-charting theater recording since Hair reached the top spot in 1969. Hamilton had previously peaked at #3 in July 2016, following its record-breaking haul of 11 Tony Award trophies (including best musical), tying it with the original Broadway cast recording of The Book of Mormon (which peaked at #3 in 2011) as the highest-charting cast album since the 1960s. Last week also marked Hamilton’s 250th continuous appearance on the Billboard 200 since its debut in October 2015, the longest run by any cast album since the highlights edition of the original London cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera, which logged 331 weeks from 1990 to 1996. So far, Hamilton has sold 1.97 million copies in the U.S. alone.