Rhino's release of the Four Seasons backstory musical, which was released Nov. 1, 2005, has charted on the Billboard list for 22 weeks before hitting the top slot for the first time June 22. (The album also received "Pacesetter" status as it jumped from No. 186 to No. 85 on the Billboard 200 chart.)

Wicked has topped the chart for 22 of the 25 weeks the chart has been published. The Decca Broadway release of the Stephen Schwartz musical has dominated the spot, only being toppled twice before by the two-disc "Harry" recording and The Color Purple for one week each.

The original Broadway cast albums for the Tony Award-nominated musicals The Drowsy Chaperone (on Ghostlight Records) and The Wedding Singer (Masterworks Broadway) — which debuted last week on the chart — post at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively while the Columbia Records release, "Harry on Broadway Act 1," (with Connick, Jr.'s work in The Pajama Game and Thou Shalt Not) rounds out the top five.

This past season's The Color Purple (Angel) and Sweeney Todd (Nonesuch) also placed alongside previous hits Mamma Mia!, Monty Python's Spamalot, Hairspray and Avenue Q.

* A recent addition to Billboard's listings, the Top Cast Albums chart debuted in Billboard on Jan. 12, 2006. Stephen Schwartz' Wicked — which opened on Broadway in October 2003 (album released Dec. 16, 2003) — appeared at the top of the first chart. The chart measures sales of albums from stage musicals, Broadway recordings mostly fill the 15-slot table, but cast albums from other locales are also eligible. The addition of the chart to Billboard's 112 charts generates exposure for the genre which does not often chart on the Billboard 200.

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