Lindsay Mendez’s “Merrily We Roll Along” Broadway Cast Recording Debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums Chart

Posted on November 25, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Lindsay Mendez is back on top of the charts…

The new Broadway cast recording of Merrily We Roll Along, featuring the 40-year-old Mexican American Broadway singer/actress, debuts at No. 1 on Billboard’s Cast Albums chart dated November 25.

In addition to Mendez, the musical also stars Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff, who have all been part of at least one top 10-charting Cast Album previously. (Groff, notably, performs on both the Nos. 1 and 2 titles on the latest Cast Albums chart – as Merrily We Roll Along bumps Hamilton: An American Musical from the top slot down to No. 2.)

Billboard’s Top Cast Albums chart ranks the top-selling musical cast recordings of the week in the U.S., based on traditional album sales, as tracked by Luminate. The new Cast Albums chart dated November 25 reflects the sales week ending November 16.

Merrily We Roll Along has music and lyrics written by Stephen Sondheim, with a book by George Furth, based on the play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The musical premiered on Broadway in 1981 for a brief run, and the 2023 production is its first revival on Broadway. It’s slated to run through March 24, 2024.

The new iteration began off-Broadway in 2022 at the New York Theatre Workshop, with the same leading cast, and played through January 22, 2023. It then began previews on Broadway at the Hudson Theatre on September 19, and officially opened on October 10.

Mendez has appeared on five top 10-charting sets on Cast Albums: Grease (the new 2007 Broadway cast recording, No. 4), Everyday Rapture (original Broadway cast recording; No. 8, 2010), Dogfight (original cast recording; No. 2, 2013), Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel (2018 Broadway cast recording; No. 2, 2013), Godspell (the new 2012 Broadway cast recording; No. 1) and now Merrily We Roll Along.

Mendez also scored a Grammy nomination for best musical theater album, for Carousel.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” Soundtrack Logs 29th Week in the Billboard 200 Top 10

Posted on August 19, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton soundtrack is showing its longevity…

The original Broadway cast recording of the 40-year-old Puerto Rican composer/lyricist, actor & playwright’s Hamilton: An American Musical has logged its 29th non-consecutive week in the top 10 on the Billboard 200—the longest cumulative run by any cast recording since the Broadway cast album to Hello, Dolly! was a fixture in the top 10 for 35 consecutive weeks from March 4, 1964 to October 31, 1964.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's final Hamilton curtain call

Hamilton surpasses the cast album to Hair, which logged 28 consecutive weeks in the top 10 in 1969.

Hello, Dolly! and Hamilton were the biggest Broadway blockbusters of the decades in which they first appeared.

Hello, Dolly! opened on January 16, 1964 and ran for 2,844 performances. It was, for a time, the longest-running Broadway musical in history.

Hamilton opened on August 6, 2015 and had run 1,919 performances as of March 11, 2020 when Broadway shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hello, Dolly! won 10 Tony Awards, including best musical. Hamilton took home 11, also including best musical.

The Hello, Dolly! cast album topped the Billboard 200 in June 1964, on the first chart following that year’s Tony Awards (which were held on May 24 that year). The album’s rise to No. 1 ended a 16-week lock on the top spot by The Beatles.

Hamilton has had a series of peaks, but has yet to top the chart.

It debuted at No. 12 in October 2015, reached a new peak of No. 11 in May 2016 amid the buzz over its record-setting 16 Tony nominations, another new peak of No. 3 in June 2016 following the Tony Awards, and yet another new peak of No. 2 last month after Disney+ premiered the filmed version of the Broadway show.

None of the songs from Hamilton have become chart hits in the traditional sense, though several are well-known, including “My Shot,” “Room Where It Happens,” “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story” and “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down),” which includes the crowd-igniting line “immigrants (we get the job done).”

Hamilton won a Grammy for best musical theater album. Hello, Dolly!, surprisingly, did not. It lost to the Funny Girl cast album.

If Hamilton logs six more weeks in the top 10, it will tie Dolly! for the longest run in the top 10 by a cast album since August 1963, when Billboard combined separate stereo and mono charts into one comprehensive chart.

Before that, when there were multiple album charts, several cast albums had even longer runs in the top 10. Here are three of the most prominent examples. My Fair Lady had 173 weeks in the top 10. The Sound of Music had 105. The Music Man had 66.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” Soundtrack Reaches No. 2 on Billboard 200 Chart

Posted on July 14, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton is proving its endurance…

The original Broadway cast recording of the 40-year-old Puerto Rican Broadway star’s Hamilton: An American Musical has surged to a new peak on the Billboard 200 albums chart, as the set rises from No. 14 to No. 2 in the wake of the show’s Disney+ premiere on July 3.

The Grammy-winning album earned 102,000 equivalent album units (up 294 percent) in the U.S. in the week ending July 9, according to Nielsen Music/MRC Data. Of that sum, 32,000 are in album sales (up 592 percent).

The last cast recording to reach the top two on the chart was the original cast album of Hair, which spent 13 weeks at No. 1 in 1969.

Until this week, Hamilton was tied with the original Broadway cast recording of The Book of Mormon as the highest charting cast album since 1969, as Mormonpeaked at No. 3 in 2011.

The set previously peaked at No. 3 on the July 2, 2016-dated chart, following the 2016 Tony Awards, where the musical won 11 prizes, including best musical.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new July 18-dated chart will be posted in full on Billboard‘s website on July 14.

Of Hamilton’s unit haul of 102,000 for the week, 67,000 are in SEA units (equating to 90.41 million on-demand streams for the set’s tracks – easily the biggest streaming week ever for a cast recording), 32,000 are in album sales, and 4,000 are in TEA units.

Hamiltoncelebrates its 250th week on the Billboard 200 chart. The set has never left the tally since its debut at No. 12 on the October 17, 2015-dated list. That’s the longest run by any cast album since the highlights edition of the original London cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera, which has logged 331 weeks on the list between 1990 and 1996.

With 102,000 equivalent album units earned, Hamilton tallies the biggest week for any cast recording since Billboard and Nielsen Music/MRC Data began tracking albums by units in December 2014. Hamilton beats its own record, as it previously held the biggest week, by units, for a cast album since December 2014 – when it net 62,000 units on the July 2, 2016-dated chart.

So far, Hamilton has sold 1.97 million copies in the U.S. After being certified 6 times platinum by the RIAA in 2019, Hamilton became the best-selling cast album of all time. It won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” Soundtrack Spends 150th Week on Billboard 200

Posted on August 19, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton soundtrack has some serious legs…

The 38-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, playwright and rapper’s Original Broadway Cast Recording, Hamilton: An American Musical reaches a landmark of longevity on the Billboard 200, as it spends a 150th week on the chart.

In the last 50 years, only three other cast albums have spent at least 150 weeks on the tally: the highlights edition of the original London cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera (331 weeks between 1990 and 1996), the full original London cast recording of Phantom(255 weeks between 1987 and 1993) and the original Broadway cast recording of Hair (151 weeks between 1968 and 1971).

Hamiltonhas never ranked lower than No. 60 in its 150 weeks on the list and has spent the past 132 weeks lodged in the top 40. It peaked at No. 3 on the tally dated July 2, 2016.

Through August 9, the album has earned 3.34 million equivalent album units, of which 1.6 million are in traditional album sales, according to Nielsen Music. The set has generated 2.23 billion on-demand audio streams for its tracks.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week’s most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “Hamilton” Musical Cast Recording Notches 100th Week on Billboard 200

Posted on September 3, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Make that a perfect 100 for Lin-Manuel Miranda…

The 37-year-old Puerto Rican composer, lyricist, playright and actor’s original Broadway cast recording Hamilton: An American Musical notches its 100th consecutive week on the latest Billboard 200 albums chart (dated September 9).

The cast recording, which ranks at No. 24 o the list, also surpasses the total album sales of the original Broadway cast album to Rent.

In the latest tracking week (ending August 24), Hamilton sold another 7,000 copies, bringing its total sales to 1.285 million – slightly more than the 1.284 million of Rent (released in 1996).

Hamilton is now the sixth largest selling cast album of the Nielsen Music era (which started in 1991, when the company began electronically tracking music sales).

The top selling cast album in Nielsen Music’s history is the highlights edition of the original London cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera, with 4.97 million sold. (The complete recording of The Phantom of the Opera — which is tracked and charts separately — has sold 503,000 since 1991.)

The Phantom of the Opera (Highlights) is followed by the original Broadway cast recording of Wicked (2.7 million), the original cast recording of Mamma Mia! (1.72 million), the original Broadway cast recording of Les Miserables (1.66 million), the original Broadway cast recording of Jersey Boys (1.44 million) and Hamilton.

Further, Hamilton has sold 297,000 in 2017. It is one of only two cast albums to sell 100,000 copies this year; Dear Evan Hansen, at 116,000, is the other. Those totals also make 2017 the first calendar year since 2011 where two cast albums have cleared 100,000. That year, The Book of Mormon and Wicked respectively sold 182,000 and 133,000.

Now, let’s take a closer look at some of the action on the latest Billboard 200 chart:

Miranda’s “Hamilton: An American Musical” Original Cast Recording Surpasses 1 Million in U.S. Album Sales

Posted on January 14, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Lin-Manuel Miranda has a platinum hit on his hands…

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical, created by the 36-year-old Puerto Rican actor, playwright, composer, rapper and writer, has now surpassed 1 million in U.S. album sales, according to Nielsen Music.

The set, which won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album last year, sold another 16,000 copies in the week ending January 5, which brings its total sales sum to 1.005 million since its release on September 25, 2015.

Hamilton is only the ninth cast recording to sell a million since Nielsen began electronically tracking music sales in 1991.

The top selling cast album in Nielsen’s history is the highlights edition of the original London cast recording of The Phantom of the Opera, with 4.97 million sold. (The complete recording of The Phantom of the Opera — which is tracked and charts separately — has sold 503,000 since 1991.)

Aside from The Phantom of the Opera (Highlights) and Hamilton, here are the other million-selling cast albums of the Nielsen era: the original Broadway cast recordings of Wicked (2.67 million), Les Miserables (1.65 million), Jersey Boys (1.44 million), Rent (1.28 million) and The Lion King (1.04 million), along with the original cast recording of Mamma Mia! (1.71 million) and the highlights edition of the complete symphonic recording of Les Miserables (1.03 million).

In 2016, Hamilton received a record-setting 16 Tony Award nominations, winning 11, including Best Musical and the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Maldonado & Pentatonix Groupmates Remain Atop the Billboard 200 for Second Week

Posted on January 2, 2017 by Tom Castaneda

Kirstie Maldonado is still basking in the holiday spirit…

The 24-year-old half-Mexican, part Spanish-American singer and her fellow Pentatonix members spend a second week atop the Billboard 200 with their holiday album A Pentatonix Christmas.

The set earned 101,000 equivalent album units in the week ending December 29, 2016 — the final tracking week of the calendar year.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption, which includes traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

The closing tracking frame of 2016 includes the two days leading up to Christmas Day and the holiday itself, so it’s fitting that a Christmas album leads the tally.

While A Pentatonix Christmas’ total units earned for the week were down by 51 percent, its traditional album sales were greater than any other album: it sold 82,000 copies (down 55 percent), far ahead of the No. 2 selling set of the week, Bruno Mars’ 24K Magic, with 55,000 copies (down 39 percent).

A Pentatonix Christmas‘ handsome sales, along with small declines in SEA and TEA (down 12 and 10 percent, respectively), helps keep the album ahead of the No. 2 set on the Billboard 200, The Weeknd’s former No. 1 Starboy. The latter climbs one rung with 94,000 units (down only 7 percent).

Mars’ 24K Magic dips one slot to No. 3 with 81,000 units (down 29 percent), while J. Cole’s 4 Your Eyez Only is steady at No. 4 with 75,000 units (down 16 percent).

The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical climbs two positions to No. 5 with 54,000 units (down 7 percent). This is the highest rank for the title in five months, since it also placed at No. 5 on the August 6, 2016-dated list. The album has so far peaked at No. 3 (July 2, 2016), following its 11 Tony Award wins on June 12.

The soundtrack to the animated film Moana jumps 10-6 on the new chart with 53,000 units (up 4 percent), while Twenty One Pilots’ Blurryface vaults 15-7 with 52,000 units (up 37 percent). The latter album benefits from a $5.99 sale price in the Apple iTunes store, as well as promotion generated by the release of Twenty One Pilots’ new EP with MuteMath, The MuteMath Sessions, on Dec. 20. Overall sales of Blurryface were up by 23 percent to 33,000, while its download sales increased by a whopping 268 percent to 20,000.

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