Hamilton finally breaks top 2 on the Billboard Top 200, 250 weeks after entering the chart

How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore, and a Scotsman ... grow up to be the No. 2 spot on the Billboard Top 200? The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton: An American Musical hit a new peak this week, some 250 weeks after it first debuted on the charts, in the wake of the premiere of the show on Disney+ on July 3.

Almost more incredible is the fact that Hamilton "has never left the tally since its debut at No. 12 on the Oct. 17, 2015-dated list," writes Billboard, noting that the 250 weeks marks "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." As a consequence, though, Hamilton's No. 2 spot is also the slowest climb to the top two ever on the chart, in terms of weeks spent on the chart.

Additionally, Hamilton is the highest charting cast album since the original cast recording of Hair hit No. 1 for a total of 13 weeks back in 1969. Hamilton had previously been tied with the original Broadway recording of the Book of Mormon as the highest charting cast album since Hair, with Mormon hitting a high of No. 3 in 2011.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

To date, Hamilton has sold 1.97 million copies in the U.S., with 32,000 copies of the album sold in the most recent tracking week. Jeva Lange