‘Hamilton' Isn't Just A Success On Broadway — It's A Historic Win On The Charts

Forbes

02-05-2025

Hamilton celebrates 500 weeks on the Billboard 200 and the Cast Albums chart, marking a first on the ... More all-encompassing albums list for Broadway. NEW YORK, NY - JULY 09: (L-R) Phillipa Soo, Christopher Jackson, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Anthony Ramos attend Lin-Manuel Miranda's final performance of "Hamilton" on Broadway at Richard Rodgers Theatre on July 9, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by)
Hamilton became a phenomenon even before it reached Broadway. In just a few months, it will celebrate a full decade on the Great White Way — and amazingly, it still remains one of the most in-demand tickets, as well as one of the most successful shows ever. It's not just the production that continues to bring people in, either. Millions of fans still buy and stream the original cast recording every week.
The album that accompanies the Broadway show reaches an incredible milestone this week in America, proving that there's still room for great and inventive new musicals, even if they only come along every once in a while.
Hamilton has now spent 500 weeks on the Billboard 200. Billboard reports that it is the first Broadway cast recording to hit that incredible milestone, which remains elusive even for the most successful non-theatrical releases.
This week, Hamilton manages to climb on the busy tally. While it doesn't approach its former high of No. 2 on the Billboard 200, it does improve from No. 39 to No. 32. Luminate reports that the cast recording shifted another 19,000 equivalent units in the past tracking period, with almost all of those units coming from streaming activity.
As it reaches 500 weeks on the Billboard 200, Hamilton also climbs to another notable landmark on Billboard's Top Streaming Albums chart. That list measures the most successful titles on Spotify, Apple Music, and other similar platforms. The cast recording lifts from No. 31 to No. 28 this frame. That marks its new high on the list, though it has only spent 12 weeks on the tally overall.
The same release also reaches 500 weeks on the Cast Albums chart — where one might expect Hamilton to perform best – at the same time it makes it to that sum on the Billboard 200. Throughout that time frame, it has racked up 427 stays at No. 1, and it holds in first place yet again this frame.
Hamilton may be one of the only Broadway cast recordings to appear on Billboard's Top Rap Albums chart, which ranks the most consumed full-lengths in that genre throughout the U.S. It climbs on that list as well, pushing from No. 10 to No. 6. Amazingly, after 383 weeks, it still ranks among the 10 most consumed rap albums in the country, despite competition from some of the biggest names in that genre – and it's on that tally where it has previously reached No. 1.