Hamilton Logs 500th Week at No. 1 on Billboard Cast Albums Chart
The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical has spent its 500th week at No. 1 on Billboard's Cast Albums chart. The total appears on the chart dated 17 October. Billboard reported the milestone on 13 October.
It is the only title to spend at least 500 weeks at No. 1 on any Billboard ranking currently published. The album has logged 576 weeks in total on the Cast Albums chart, the weekly list for theatre recordings. It debuted at No. 1 on the chart dated 17 October 2015.
The Cast Albums chart began in January 2006. Only four albums have managed at least 10 weeks at No. 1 in that time. Hamilton leads by a wide margin.
The next closest is the original Broadway cast recording of Wicked, with 355 weeks at No. 1. The original Broadway cast recording of Jersey Boys follows with 75 weeks at the top. The Book of Mormon original Broadway cast recording has 15 weeks at No. 1.
Hamilton has held the top spot almost continuously since its arrival. Since its debut, the most weeks at No. 1 for any other title is 22, also by Wicked.
Two other Hamilton releases have reached No. 1 on the same chart. They are Hamilton: 10 Shots (Highlights From the Original Broadway Cast Recording) and Rise Up! Hamilton: The Anthology. A separate release, The Hamilton Mixtape, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, the all-genre albums chart that converts sales and streams into album units.
The original cast recording has a long run there too. It peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart dated 18 July 2020, after the filmed stage show premiered on Disney+. That is the highest position for a cast recording since 1969, when the original Broadway cast recording of Hair spent 13 weeks at No. 1. Hamilton has spent 575 weeks on the Billboard 200 and is the only cast recording with at least 500 weeks on that chart, according to Billboard.
What makes this stand out is the simple maths. For more than a decade, fans old and new have kept one theatre album at the top while other fan favourites cycled below it.
