‘Hamilton’ Becomes First Cast Album to Log 500 Weeks on Billboard 200: 10 Cast Albums With the Longest Chart Runs

Billboard 200 peak: No. 31, March 1967

Music & Lyrics: Mitch Leigh (music), Joe Darion (lyrics)

Label: Kapp

Key song: “The Impossible Dream (The Quest)”

Notes: Richard Kiley headlined this musical, an adaptation of Don Quixote. The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2009. More than any other show on this list, Man of La Mancha was known for just one classic song: “The Impossible Dream (The Quest),” a top 40 hit on the Hot 100 for Jack Jones and a 1966 Grammy nominee for song of the year.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 5 in June 1962

Music & Lyrics: Leonard Bernstein (music); Stephen Sondheim (music)

Label: Columbia

Key songs: “Tonight,” “Somewhere,” “Something’s Coming”

Notes: Carol Lawrence, Larry Kert and Chita Rivera starred in this musical, which was written by Leonard Bernstein and a young Stephen Sondheim. The cast album peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 in June 1962, after the film adaptation swept 10 Oscars – more than any other musical in history (a record it still holds). The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1991 and the National Recording Registry in 2008.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 7, January 1965

Music & Lyrics: Jerry Bock (music); Sheldon Harnick (lyrics)

Label: RCA Victor

Key songs: “If I Were a Rich Man,” “Sunrise, Sunset,” “Matchmaker, Matchmaker”

Notes: Zero Mostel headlined this landmark musical. The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 and the National Recording Registry in 2019.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 12 weeks beginning in March 1958

Music & Lyrics: Meredith Willson (both)

Label: Capitol

Key songs: “Till There Was You,” “Seventy Six Trombones,” “Ya Got Trouble”

Notes: Robert Preston was the likable con man in this show, which also starred Barbara Cook. Preston also starred in the 1962 film adaptation. The gorgeous “Till There Was You” was later covered by The Beatles on Meet the Beatles!. The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 33 in March 1988

Music & Lyrics: Andrew Lloyd Webber (music); Charles Hart (lyrics)

Label: Polydor

Key songs: “All I Ask of You,” “Music of the Night,” “Masquerade”

Notes: Michael Crawford led the original London cast, which also included Sarah Brightman and Steve Barton. This was a double album, as is Hamilton.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for six weeks beginning in June 1961

Music & Lyrics: Frederic Loewe (music); Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics)

Label: Columbia

Key songs: “If Ever I Would Leave You,” “How to Handle a Woman,” “Lusty Month of May.”

Notes: Five years after they first worked together on My Fair Lady, Andrews reteamed with Lerner and Loewe on this musical. Her co-stars were Richard Burton and Robert Goulet. The show became legendary when former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy told journalist Theodore White that the cast recording was a favorite of the recently assassinated President Kennedy. From that day forward, his “one brief shining moment” in the White House was referred to as Camelot. The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2006.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 1 for 16 weeks beginning in January 1960

Music & Lyrics: Richard Rodgers (music); Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics)

Label: Columbia

Key songs: “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” “My Favorite Things,” “Maria”

Notes: Mary Martin starred in this Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, but as we all know, she wasn’t cast in the 1965 film. Julie Andrews got the plum role instead. The cast album topped the Billboard 200 for 16 weeks — longer than any other cast album in the chart’s history.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 46 in January 1992

Music & Lyrics: Andrew Lloyd Webber (music); Charles Hart (lyrics)

Label: Polydor

Key songs: “All I Ask of You,” “Music of the Night,” “Masquerade”

Notes: This was a single-disk album of highlights from the original London cast album of The Phantom of the Opera. You might have expected it to cannibalize the sales of the full double album, but both did very well.

Billboard 200 peak: 15 weeks beginning in July 1956

Music & lyrics: Frederick Loewe (music); Alan Jay Lerner (lyrics)

Label: Columbia

Key songs: “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “On the Street Where You Live,” “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face”

Notes: Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews headlined this Lerner and Loewe musical, an adaptation of Pygmalion. Harrison also starred in the 1964 film adaptation, though Audrey Hepburn played the role Andrews originated – a casting decision that created quite a furor at the time (and still seems unwise). The album was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1977 and the National Recording Registry in 2007.

Billboard 200 peak: No. 2 in July 2020

Music & Lyrics: Lin-Manuel Miranda (both)

Label: Atlantic

Key songs: “My Shot,” “Alexander Hamilton,” “History Has Its Eyes on You,” “The Room Where It Happens,” “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)”

Notes: In addition to writing the book, music and lyrics, Lin-Manuel Miranda starred in this show, along with Leslie Odom, Jr. and Phillipa Soo. The double album initially peaked at No. 3 in June 2016. It reached a new peak of No. 2 in July 2020, following the release of the live stage film of the Broadway production. The album was voted into the National Recording Registry in 2025.