Spring Awakening Tops Billboard Cast Album Chart Following Tony Win
By Ernio Hernandez
21 Jun 2007
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Cover art for the Spring Awakening album.
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The original Broadway cast recording of Spring Awakening has dethroned No. 1 stronghold Wicked for the top of the Billboard Top Cast Album chart. Company and A Chorus Line re-enter.
Both Spring and Wicked are on the Decca Broadway label. Spring Awakening's big win for Best Musical at the 2007 Tony Awards helped the Duncan Sheik-Steven Sater show reach the top spot this week. Last season, the Best Musical Tony winner Jersey Boys enjoyed a four-week run at No. 1 following its Tony win.
Rhino's Jersey Boys, Broadway Angel/Manhattan's Curtains and Decca Broadway's Mamma Mia! round out the top five.
Of last season's offerings not already mentioned, the revival recording of 110 In The Shade and Grey Gardens (both on PS Classics) and Walt Disney's Mary Poppins place on the countdown. The recording of the revivals of Company (PS Classics/Nonesuch) and A Chorus Line (Masterworks Broadway) find their way back onto the chart at No. 10 and 15, respectively.
Along with Wicked and Mamma Mia!, the cast recordings of Monty Python's Spamalot and Avenue Q have remained on Billboard's Top Cast Album Chart for the full 77 weeks since the chart's inception.
The release of Stephen Schwartz's Wicked has topped the chart for 70 of the 77 weeks the chart has been published. The recording has dominated the top spot, only being toppled by the Columbia Records two-disc "Harry On Broadway" release (with Broadway's The Pajama Game revival and selections of Connick, Jr.'s Thou Shalt Not) and The Color Purple for one week each. In addition to its post Tony, four-week run at No. 1, Jersey Boys also reclaimed the top spot the week of Feb. 8.
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Billboard added the Top Cast Albums chart to its listings Jan. 12, 2006. 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. The Schwartz musical — which opened on Broadway in October 2003 (album released Dec. 16, 2003) — appeared at the top of the first chart.
Billboard can be found on the web at www.billboard.com. Full charts are available by subscription at www.billboard.biz.
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