Show Boat (1932)
‘Hamilton’ Joins Roster of Broadway Cast Albums in National Recording Registry: Full List
Written by djfrosty on April 9, 2025
The Broadway cast album from Hamilton: An American Musical was inducted into the National Recording Registry this year. It’s the 15th Broadway cast album to receive this honor, and the first from a show that premiered after 1979.
Of the 15 cast albums in the National Recording Registry, four were released in the 1940s and four more in the 1950s, decades that are often thought of as the heyday of Broadway cast albums. That number dropped to just two in the 1960s and two more in the ’70s. And no cast albums at all from the ’80s, ’90s or ’00s have made it yet.
This makes Hamilton‘s achievement all the more impressive. The show’s creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, is going against the tide here. Miranda is also going against the current political tide. Hamilton was scheduled to return to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for the third time in March and April of 2026. The show’s producers canceled the run due to President Trump’s recent takeover of the performing arts institution. “Given the recent actions, our show simply cannot, in good conscience, participate and be a part of this new culture that is being imposed on the Kennedy Center,” lead producer Jeffrey Seller said in a statement shared to the official Hamilton X page.
In 2018, the Kennedy Center Honors broke format to recognize the creators of Hamilton – Miranda, Thomas Kail, Andy Blankenbuehler and Alex Lacamoire. Historically, the Kennedy Center Honors have recognized artists near the end of their careers. Here, they gave an award to talents mid-career to honor a specific achievement. (The National Recording Registry is administered by the Library of Congress, not the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.)
Miranda wrote both music and lyrics for the songs in Hamilton. The songs in five other cast albums in the National Recording Registry were the work of a solitary songwriter. Stephen Sondheim wrote both music and lyrics to all the songs in Sweeney Todd, as did Charlie Smalls (The Wiz), Frank Loesser (Guys and Dolls), Cole Porter (Kiss Me, Kate) and Marc Blitzstein (The Cradle Will Rock).
Sondheim and his mentor, Oscar Hammerstein II, both wrote songs for three of the 15 cast albums in the Registry. Sondheim wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy before serving in both capacities on Sweeney Todd. Hammerstein collaborated with Jerome Kern on Show Boat before teaming with Richard Rodgers for Oklahoma! and South Pacific.
If you’re wondering why The Sound of Music (also by Rodgers & Hammerstein) isn’t listed here, that’s easy to explain. The 1965 film soundtrack with Julie Andrews is in the Registry, but the 1959 Broadway cast album with Mary Martin is not. At least not yet. We’ll update this list as more Broadway cast albums are saluted.
Here are all the Broadway cast albums that have been inducted into the National Recording Registry. They are listed in chronological order by show date. We show Billboard 200 peaks for albums that were released since that chart originated in March 1956.
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The Cradle Will Rock (1938)
Inducted into Registry: 2002
Opened on Broadway: June 16, 1937
Music & Lyrics: Marc Blitzstein (both)
Label: Musicraft
Notable Song: “The Cradle Will Rock”
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Porgy and Bess (1940-42)
Inducted into Registry: 2003
Opened on Broadway: Oct. 10, 1935
Music & Lyrics: George Gershwin (music); DuBose Heyward, Ira Gershwin (lyrics)
Label: Decca
Notable Songs: “Summertime,” “I Got Plenty O’ Nuttin’,” “Bess, You Is My Woman Now,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So,” “I Loves You, Porgy”
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Oklahoma! (1943)
Inducted into Registry: 2003
Opened on Broadway: March 31, 1943
Music & Lyrics: Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II (both)
Label: Decca
Notable Songs: “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” The Surrey With the Fringe on Top,” “I Can’t Say No,” “People Will Say We’re in Love,” “Oklahoma!”
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South Pacific (1949)
Inducted into Registry: 2012
Opened on Broadway: April 7, 1949
Music & Lyrics: Richard Rodgers (music); Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics)
Label: Columbia
Notable Songs: “Some Enchanted Evening,” “There’s Nothing Like a Dame,” “Bali Ha’i,” “I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair,” “I’m in Love With a Wonderful Guy,” “Younger Than Springtime,” “You’ve Got to Be Taught,” “This Nearly Was Mine”
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Kiss Me, Kate (1949)
Inducted into Registry: 2014
Opened on Broadway: Dec. 30, 1948
Music & Lyrics: Cole Porter (both)
Label: Columbia
Notable Songs: “Another Op’nin’ Another Show,” “Wunderbar,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “So in Love,” “Too Darn Hot,” “Always True to You (in My Fashion)”
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Guys and Dolls (1950)
Inducted into Registry: 2014
Opened on Broadway: Nov. 24, 1950
Music & Lyrics: Frank Loesser (both)
Label: Decca
Notable Songs: “The Oldest Established,” Adelaides’ Lament,” “Follow the Fold,” “Luck Be a Lady,” “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat,” “The Oldest Established,” “Guys and Dolls”
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My Fair Lady (1956)
Inducted into Registry: 2014
Opened on Broadway: March 15, 1956
Music & lyrics: Frederick Loewe (music); Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics)
Label: Columbia
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (15 weeks)
Notable Songs: “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “With a Little Bit of Luck,” “Just You Wait,” “The Rain in Spain,” “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “Show Me,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”
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West Side Story (1957)
Inducted into Registry: 2014
Opened on Broadway: Sept. 26, 1957
Music & Lyrics: Leonard Bernstein (music); Stephen Sondheim (music)
Label: Columbia
Billboard 200 peak: No. 5
Notable Songs: “Something’s Coming,” “Maria,” “Tonight,” “America,” “One Hand, One Heart,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Somewhere,” “Gee, Officer Krupke”
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Gypsy (1959)
Inducted into Registry: 2014
Opened on Broadway: May 21, 1959
Music & Lyrics: Jule Styne (music); Stephen Sondheim (lyrics)
Label: Columbia
Billboard 200 peak: No. 13
Notable Songs: “Some People,” “Small World,” “All I Need Is the Girl,” “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Together, Wherever We Go,” “Let Me Entertain You,” “Rose’s Turn”
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Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
Inducted into Registry: 2014
Opened on Broadway: Sept. 22, 1964
Music & Lyrics: Jerry Bock (music); Sheldon Harnick (lyrics)
Billboard 200 peak: No. 7
Label: RCA Victor
Notable Songs: “Tradition,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker,” “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset”
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Hair (1968)
Inducted into Registry: 2018
Opened on Broadway: April 29, 1968
Music & Lyrics: Galt MacDermot (music); Gerome Ragni, James Rado (lyrics)
Label: RCA Victor
Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 (13 weeks)
Notable Songs: “Aquarius,” “Hair,” “Easy to Be Hard,” “Good Morning Starshine,” “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sun Shine In),” “Walking in Space”
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The Wiz (1975)
Inducted into Registry: 2016
Opened on Broadway: Jan. 5, 1975
Music & Lyrics: Charlie Smalls (both)
Label: Atlantic
Billboard 200 peak: No. 43
Notable Songs: “Ease on Down the Road,” “Believe in Yourself,” “Home,” “Everybody Rejoice” (music and lyrics by Luther Vandross)
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Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1979)
Inducted into Registry: 2013
Opened on Broadway: March 1, 1979
Music & lyrics: Stephen Sondheim (both)
Label: RCA Victor
Billboard 200 peak: No. 78
Notable Songs: “Not While I’m Around,” “Green Finch and Linnet Bird,” “Johanna,” “Pretty Women,” “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd”
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Hamilton: An American Musical (2015)
Inducted into Registry: 2025
Opened on Broadway: Aug. 6, 2015
Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda (both)
Label: Atlantic
Billboard 200 peak: No. 2
Notable Songs: “Alexander Hamilton,” “My Shot,” “History Has Its Eyes on You,” “The Room Where It Happens,” “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”