'Book of Mormon' Cast Album Breaks Billboard Records

'Book of Mormon' Cast Album Breaks Billboard Records

After winning Best Musical at the Tony Awards this past Sunday, the cast album for "The Book of Mormon," Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez's musical about Mormon missionaries in Africa, made history of its own. Skyrocketing to No. 3 on the Billboard charts, the album sold 61,000 copies in a week, the highest numbers reported for a cast album since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking data in 1991.

This makes "Mormon" the highest charting cast album since 1969, when the rock musical "Hair" spent months in the number one slot.

According to Billboard, "The Phantom of the Opera" held the previous record for most copies sold in a week, when it racked up 54,000 sales over Christmas in 1992. Albums for Dreamgirls and Rent also cracked the Billboard Top 20, but none have come close to the sales for "Mormon."

Not to be outdone, the "Mormon" cast album also became the fastest selling Broadway cast album in iTunes history after it was released digitally by Ghostlight Records.

The Tony Awards victories (for best musical, direction, featured actress, and its score) were certainly a boon for the album, as it had completely slipped off the charts last week, after debuting at No. 31 three weeks ago.

"The Book of Mormon" is currently enjoying a sold-out run at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in Manhattan. It opened to rave reviews and huge crowds on March 24.

Fore more, click on over at Billboard.

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