Dear Evan Hansen lands in top 10 for Billboard album chart debut

If you picked up the Dear Evan Hansen cast recording when it arrived earlier this month, you’re definitely not alone.

The album debuted at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 chart, marking the highest debut for a cast album since Camelot arrived at No. 4 in 1961. The collection, which stars Pitch Perfect’s Ben Platt and the other members of the Broadway production’s cast, sold 29,000 equivalent album units, per Billboard, with 25,000 coming from traditional album sales.

Evan Hansen even notched a higher debut than another recent beloved Broadway smash — when the Hamilton: An American Musical soundtrack arrived in late 2015, it bowed at No. 12 on the chart (it later peaked at No. 3, and is still sitting on the chart at No. 13). The last time the Billboard 200 chart hosted two top-20 charting cast albums was more than 50 years ago, when Hello, Dolly! and Fiddler on the Roof both appeared in 1965.

Dear Evan Hansen is now only the fourth cast recording to crack the top 10 on the Billboard 200 in the last 50 years (the others being Hamilton, The Book of Mormon, which made it to No. 3 in 2011, and Hair, which hit No. 1 in 1969).

DEH opened on Broadway in December with songs written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. The musical’s cast album was released digitally on Feb. 3, while a physical album will arrive at retailers on Feb. 24.

For more on this week’s Billboard 200 chart (led by Big Sean at No. 1), head to Billboard.