The 2015 Tony Awards have already registered on the Billboard 200 as several of the plays and musicals that won awards have seen a boost in sales thanks to the primetime broadcast last Sunday night. The cast albums for Something Rotten, An American in Paris and Fun Home were among those most affected in the recent sales charts.
Something Rotten (full title: Something Rotten: A Very New Musical) was the biggest winner, at least in terms of sales, as the cast album managed to crack the Top 100 of the Billboard 200, coming in at no. 94 overall. The album sold 6,000 copies...the biggest sales week for a musical in nearly a year, since Idina Menzel's If/Then debuted on the charts.
That play—which featured a Tony winning performance from actor Christian Borle—had an unfair advantage over the competition perhaps. Not only did it get a performance during the evening, it got the celebrated opening number. While in years past, bigger has often meant better, the cast of Something Rotten kept things a tad more low-key (just a tad), delivering a sardonic and self-skewering look at the concept of musicals. The humor and the early time slot all but guaranteed that Rotten would receive a sales boost.
In terms of percentages, Fun Home was the big winner. The Best Musical awardee more than doubled sales of its accompanying cast album, rising 107 percent to 2,000 copies sold. That may not seem like much, but consider that the nearly 900 copies it sold two weeks ago were enough to top the Cast Albums chart. Now, after the huge increase, it still falls to no. 3 behind Something Rotten and An American in Paris.
Look for numbers to continue to increase, as this week's chart only reflects that albums bought on the Monday after the broadcast. Sales for Broadway musicals soundtracks should peak this week.
