Highest Grossing Season for Broadway in Recorded History

While attendance rose 1.6 percent, ticket sales edged up just 0.6 percent for the year

Broadway’s shows had the best attendance and highest grossing season in recorded history, according to 2015-2016 end-of-season statistics released by the Broadway League.

Total attendance from the week ending May 31, 2015, through May 22, 2016, reached over 13 million, yielding around $1.37 billion in ticket sales, the Broadway industry's trade association said. 

Even though the average paid admission decreased for the first time in recorded history, attendance, revenue from tickets and the number of playing weeks rose this year. While attendance rose 1.6 percent, ticket sales edged up just 0.6 percent for the year. 

In the year that "Hamilton" won the Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy Award, and was nominated for 16 Tony Awards, the musical accounted for 4 percent of the total attendance number and a little over 5 percent in total ticket sales.

Charlotte St. Martin, the president of the Broadway League, attributed the upward trend in audience growth for the third year in a row to the diversity of shows on stage.

According to the Broadway League, attendance exceeded the 10 professional New York and New Jersey sports teams combined by more than 2.7 million.

During the 2015-2016 season, 39 productions opened, including 16 musicals, 20 plays and three specials.

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