Lin-Manuel Miranda’s brainchild Hamilton is erasing the boundaries of a Broadway production. Through the recently released Hamilton Mixtape, Miranda fused the show’s tunes with the urban flavor that it is based upon. It’s reaching not only fans of the musical itself, but fans of hip-hop, and the experimentation paid off.
The project debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 Album Chart with 187,000 equivalent units sold. Of the sale, 169,000 were traditional album sales. It’s ahead of The Weeknd’s Starboy and acapella group Pentatonix’s A Pentatonix Christmas.
The artists that appeared on the mixtape include Chance The Rapper, Busta Rhymes, Queen Latifah, Nas, Dave East, The Roots, Miguel, Usher and Lin-Manuel himself.
The original cast recording of the popular musical has spent 63 weeks on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, and peaked at number 3.
It’s official!! We just made a mixtape the #1 album in the country.
Many thanks @Questlove @BlackThought @Lin_Manuel for the opportunity 🙏🏼 https://t.co/lwx4ZyguWd
— J.PERIOD (@jperiodBK) December 11, 2016
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😳 https://t.co/kKjtvGJaPE— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) December 11, 2016
This is the product of a bajillion artists doing amazing work.
My heart overflows with gratitude for them.
& @RiggdUp, who always believed.— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) December 11, 2016