List of highest-grossing musical theatre productions explained

The following is a list of highest-grossing musical theatre productions on Broadway, the highest-grossing musical theatre franchises globally, and the highest theatre admissions at the box office globally.

Highest-grossing Broadway musical theatre productions

The following is a list of the top 25 highest-grossing Broadway musicals since 1982, based on data collected by the Broadway League. These grosses do not take into account the effects of inflation and as such the list is heavily skewed in favor of more recent Broadway shows. Moreover, the Broadway League did not begin collecting gross data until June 1984.^[1] Hence, accurate pre-1984 gross data is not available and this list should not be considered accurate for musicals that premiered on Broadway before that year.

The Lion King sits at the top, with a Broadway gross of $2 billion.

Dates refer to original Broadway productions, with notes added for future productions that outran the Broadway run.

+ Broadway revenue (since 1982)
Rank	Musical	Original production			Revivals	Number of performances	Gross revenue (US$)
		Debut year	Closing year	No. of performances
1	The Lion King	1997	Present	10,618			$2,010,453,678^[2]
2	Wicked	2003	Present	8,144			$1,666,848,394	^[3]
3	The Phantom of the Opera	1988	2023	13,981		13,981	$1,364,632,622
4	Hamilton	2015	Present	3,237			$981,129,059	^[4]
5	The Book of Mormon	2011	Present	5,007			$811,651,269	^[5]
6	Chicago	1975	1977	10,993	1996–Present		$790,239,631	^[6]
7	Aladdin	2014	Present	3,779			$671,076,452	^[7]
8	Mamma Mia!	2001	2015	5,758		5,758	$624,391,693	^[8]
9	Jersey Boys	2005	2017	4,642	4,642		4,462	$558,416,092
10	Les Misérables	1987	2003	6,680	2006; 2014–2016	8,167	$514,794,489
11	Cats	1982	2000	7,485	2016–2017	8,078	$453,624,091
12	Beauty and the Beast	1994	2007	5,461		5,461	$429,158,458	^[9]
13	Miss Saigon	1991	2001	4,092	2017	4,475	$322,103,948	^[10]
14	Kinky Boots	2013	2019	2,505		2,505	$318,990,092	^[11]
15	Mary Poppins	2006	2013	2,619		2,619	$294,558,648	^[12]
16	The Producers	2001	2007	2,502		2,502	$288,361,724
17	Moulin Rouge! The Musical	2019	Present	1,545			$280,544,933^[13]
18	Rent	1996	2008	5,123		5,123	$274,248,128
19		2014	2019	2,418		2,418	$270,623,922^[14]
20	Dear Evan Hansen	2016	2022	1,669		1,669	$270,272,357
21	Hairspray	2002	2009	2,642		2,642	$252,181,270
22	MJ the Musical	2022	Present	1,173			$230,954,298^[15]
23		2011	2014	1,066		1,066	$212,406,040
24	The Music Man	1957	1961	1,375	2000-2001; 2021-2023	2,447	$206,161,177^[16]
25	Hadestown	2019	Present	1,684		TBD	$200,935,972

Highest-grossing musical theatre franchises

The following is a list of the top 10 highest-grossing musical theatre franchises worldwide based on limited available data. The following figures include revenue grossed from ticket sales in theatres across the world.^[17]

Note that the following gross figures are nominal, not adjusted for inflation, and do not take into account rising ticket prices. As such, the list gives far more weight to more recent musicals.

The Lion King sits at the top, with a gross of $8.2 billion worldwide.

+ Worldwide revenue
Rank	Musical	Debut year	Gross revenue (US$)
1	The Lion King	1997	$8,251,556,700
2	The Phantom of the Opera	1986	$6,060,000,000
3	Wicked	2003	$5,000,000,000+
4	Mamma Mia!	1999	$4,000,000,000	^[18]
5	Cats	1981	$3,565,624,091
6	Les Misérables	1980	$2,708,535,588
7	Miss Saigon	1989	$1,636,259,976
8	Jersey Boys	2004	$1,644,848,098
9	Beauty and the Beast	1993	$1,600,000,000
10	Starlight Express	1984	$1,200,000,000

Box office admissions (ticket sales)

The following is a list of the musical theatre franchises with the highest theatre admissions. The list includes worldwide ticket sales as well as Broadway ticket sales since 1984. Shows must have sold more than 1 million tickets.

The Broadway League did not begin collecting admissions data until June 1984.^[1] Hence, pre-1984 Broadway admissions data is not available and the Broadway figures should not be considered accurate for musicals that premiered on Broadway before that year.

Musical	Debut year	Worldwide ticket sales	Broadway ticket sales^[19]
The Phantom of the Opera	1988	130,000,000^[20]	18,000,000
The Lion King	1997	100,000,000^[21]	15,000,000
Cats	1982	73,000,000^[22]	9,333,667
Les Misérables	1987	70,000,000^[23]	10,600,947
Mamma Mia!	2001	65,000,000^[24]	7,566,124
Wicked	2003	55,000,000^[25]	11,000,000
Beauty and the Beast	1994	35,000,000^[26]	7,609,397
Miss Saigon	1991	35,000,000^[27]	6,584,913
Chicago	1975	31,000,000^[28]	9,000,000
Jersey Boys	2005	25,000,000^[29]	5,150,298
Starlight Express	1984	25,000,000^[30]	1,153,702

See also

• Lists of musicals
• List of highest-grossing musical films
• Long-running theatre productions
  • Broadway shows
  • West End shows

Notes and References

1. Web site: Research & Statistics: GROSSES – BROADWAY IN NYC . June 19, 2019 . The Broadway League.
2. Web site: THE LION KING Broadway Grosses . 2024-05-08 . www.broadwayworld.com.
3. Web site: WICKED Broadway Grosses . February 1, 2023 . Broadway World.
4. Web site: HAMILTON Broadway Grosses . February 1, 2023 . Broadway World.
5. Web site: THE BOOK OF MORMON Broadway Grosses . February 1, 2023 . Broadway World.
6. Web site: CHICAGO Broadway Grosses . February 1, 2023 . Broadway World.
7. Web site: ALADDIN Broadway Grosses . February 1, 2023 . Broadway World.
8. Web site: MAMMA MIA Broadway Grosses . January 22, 2019 . Broadway World.
9. Web site: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Broadway Grosses . June 19, 2019 . Broadway World.
10. Web site: MISS SAIGON Broadway Grosses . June 19, 2019 . Broadway World.
11. Web site: KINKY BOOTS Broadway Grosses . June 19, 2019 . Broadway World.
12. Web site: MARY POPPINS Broadway Grosses . June 19, 2019 . Broadway World.
13. Web site: 'Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Broadway)' . 2 July 2023 . Playbill.com.
14. Web site: 'Beautiful: The Carole King Musical' . 5 July 2023 . playbill.com.
15. Web site: MJ THE MUSICAL Broadway Grosses . 2024-05-08 . www.broadwayworld.com.
16. Web site: 'The Music Man Broadway Gross' . 5 July 2023 . broadwayworld.com.
17. News: May 3, 2013 . Money, money, money . . live . registration . February 3, 2021 . http://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/media/2013InfoG/WIC-contacts/20130504.pdf . May 4, 2013.
18. Web site: Press Centre: Facts & Figures . October 17, 2019 . Judy Craymer.
19. Web site: Cumulative Broadway Grosses by Show (Seats Sold) . June 22, 2019 . Broadway World.
20. http://broadwayworld.com/article/PHANTOM-OF-THE-OPERA-Screening-Earns-Over-500000-in-the-UK-This-Weekend-20111005 "Phantom of the Opera Screening Earns Over £500,000 in the UK"
21. News: June 3, 2019 . Disney's THE LION KING Announces Casting For UK And Ireland Tour . en . . June 23, 2019.
22. Web site: About The Show . June 23, 2019 . Cats the Musical • Official Website.
23. Web site: About The Show . June 23, 2019 . Les Misérables Official Website . Cameron Mackintosh Limited.
24. News: May 1, 2019 . MAJOR NEW CAST CHANGES IN MAMMA MIA! FROM MONDAY 10 JUNE 2019 AT LONDON'S NOVELLO THEATRE . . June 23, 2019.
25. News: September 28, 2018 . Wicked celebrates turning 12! . Official London Theatre . June 23, 2019.
26. Web site: Disney's Beauty & the Beast . June 23, 2019 . Fox Theatre.
27. Web site: MISS SAIGON: UK Tour . June 23, 2019 . RawPR . Feast Creative.
28. News: March 20, 2018 . CHICAGO THE MUSICAL set to razzle dazzle even longer in the West End . West End Wilma . June 23, 2019.
29. News: Waters . Roz . March 25, 2019 . Award-winning Jersey Boys at Mayflower Theatre . The New Milton Advertiser and Lymington Times . June 23, 2019.
30. Web site: June 5, 2013 . Starlight Express . June 23, 2019 . Lunchbox Theatrical Productions.