Two Broadway Cast Recordings On Billboard Top 20 for First Time in Over 50 Years

For the first time in over 51 years, two original Broadway cast recordings appear in the top 20 of the Billboard 200 chart! Billboard reports that the Original Broadway Cast Recording from Dear Evan Hansen is currently in the No. 8 spot with 29,000 equivalent album units earned in the week ending February 9th. At the same time, the Grammy-winning cast recording from Broadway's HAMILTON: AN AMERICAN MUSICAL slips from No. 12 to No. 13 (25,000 units; down 1 percent).

The last time a pair of cast recordings made the Top 20 occurred back in 1965, when the Broadway cast recordings of HELLO DOLLY! and FIDDLER ON THE ROOF appeared for 11 consecutive weeks, between January 16 and March 27, 1965. HELLO DOLLY! hit the top spot for one week in 1964, while 'FIDDLER' peaked at No. 7 in January of 1965.

As BWW previously reported, Dear Evan Hansen's debut at No. 8 is the highest debut for a cast recording on the chart since 1961, and marks just the fourth cast recording to reach the top 10 of the Billboard 200 in the last 50 years. Previous cast albums to achieve the feat were Hamilton (No. 3 in 2016), The Book of Mormon (No. 3 in 2011) and Hair (No. 1 for 13 weeks in 1969).