Hamilton first opened at The Public Theatre in February 2015. Since then, the show has moved to the Richard Rodgers Theatre on Broadway and has sold out almost every show. Based on the biography by Ron Chernow, Hamilton focuses on the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton. Lin-Manuel Miranda, the composer and playwright of Hamilton began writing the 50 songs in this musical in 2009 and performed its opening number for the President and First Lady at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word event.

    The soundtrack of Hamilton is no stranger to the top of the charts. According to “‘Hamilton’s’ Historic Chart Debut” on Billboard, the cast recording is currently  #1 for Cast Albums, #3 for Rap Albums, #5 for Digital Albums, #12 for the Top 200 chart, and #9 for Top Album Sales. This album also made Billboard’s Top 25 Best Albums of 2015 at #2 and Rolling Stone’s 50 Best Albums of 2015 at #8, a first for a Broadway musical. Hamilton has currently sold over 126,000 copies of the soundtrack and has millions of plays on music sharing apps such as Spotify, YouTube, and Google Play.

    The cast of Hamilton was invited to perform their opening number, Alexander Hamilton, live from the Richard Rodgers Theatre for the Grammys with talk show host Stephen Colbert introducing them. During their performance, searches for “Who is Alexander Hamilton” spiked on search engines. Hamilton was also nominated for the Best Musical Theatre Album and won.

    Hamilton broke the box office record for the Richard Rodgers Theatre. Within a week of being open, the production made $1,697,070 in ticket sales. While most playwrights keep the proceeds for themselves, Lin-Manuel is giving back some of his profits to the Broadway Cares Foundation. This charity is a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds for AIDS research. From sold out shows to winning their first Grammy, Hamilton is certainly rising to the top!