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Streaming Albums chart while maintaining No. 1 on the Cast Albums tally, as Wicked celebrates 1,000 weeks on the list. NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 27, 2015: The Richard Rodgers Theatre on 46th Street in New York City is the site of the July 13, 2015 Broadway theater premiere of the musical "Hamilton,' based on the life of American statesman and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The production moves to the Richard Rodgers Theatre after an acclaimed off-Broadway run. The musical was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who stars in the title role. (Photo by Robert Alexander/Getty Images)
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This week is a big one for musical theater on the Billboard charts. A select few titles are enjoying special frames on at least one ranking in America, as listeners continue to consume Broadway’s favorites in huge numbers.
The original Broadway cast recording of Hamilton is on the rise in the U.S. once again. This frame, the title appears on four Billboard charts, climbing on two, returning to one, and holding steady as high as a project can go on the last tally.
Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece reappears on the Top Streaming Albums chart, breaking back in at No. 41 on Billboard’s list of the most-streamed albums of any style throughout the country. That position now stands as Hamilton’s highest-ever placement on the Top Streaming Albums chart, which was introduced only a little more than a year ago.
The fact that a Broadway cast recording nearly ranks as one of the top 40 most-successful releases on platforms like Spotify and Apple Music—competing with modern-day pop icons and rap superstars—is an incredible accomplishment. It would have been nearly inconceivable only a few years ago, but Hamilton changed everything, and continues to do so.
Hamilton keeps at No. 1 on the Cast Albums chart this frame. It has spent 418 of its 491 weeks somewhere on that list in first place. The same cast recording is also growing on two other tallies, including one where Broadway is rarely seen. Hamilton pushes from No. 19 to No. 13 on the Top Rap Albums list. It also ascends from No. 64 to No. 52 on the Billboard 200.
As Hamilton celebrates its special placement on the Top Streaming Albums chart, a predecessor that showed what was possible in the modern era for Broadway on the charts is also enjoying a very noteworthy period. The Wicked cast recording hits 1,000 weeks on Billboard's Cast Albums chart.
For any title to rack up that many stays on any Billboard roster is nearly unheard of, and that placement once again underlines just how massively popular Wicked remains on the Great White Way. Even as a soundtrack featuring the same songs—fronted by Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and the cast of the first Wicked movie—performs well, the original Broadway cast recording, which is powered by excellent performances by Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, remains a favorite among many Americans who keep buying and streaming it onto this one special roster.
