Broadway Musicals, Ranked

Miranda's hip-hop history won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and 11 Tony Awards from a record 16 nominations. It reshaped what a Broadway score could sound like and became a global cultural phenomenon.

The Boublil-Schönberg epic won eight 1987 Tony Awards including Best Musical and is the longest-running musical in West End history. Its sweeping score made 'One Day More' a global anthem.

Ran 35 years and 13,981 performances to become the longest-running show in Broadway history before closing in 2023. It won seven 1988 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Sondheim's blood-soaked musical thriller won eight 1979 Tony Awards including Best Musical and is widely considered his masterpiece. Its near-operatic score is a benchmark for musical-theatre ambition.

Leonard Bernstein's score and Jerome Robbins's choreography reinvented the Broadway dance musical, transplanting Romeo and Juliet to 1950s New York. Its songs 'Tonight' and 'Somewhere' are standards.

From the creators of South Park and Avenue Q's Robert Lopez, it won nine 2011 Tony Awards including Best Musical. It remains one of Broadway's biggest comedy hits over a decade later.

Anaïs Mitchell's folk-jazz retelling of the Orpheus myth won eight 2019 Tony Awards including Best Musical. Its atmospheric staging and 'Way Down Hadestown' proved new work could still dominate the season.

This Wizard of Oz prequel has grossed over $1.6 billion on Broadway alone and is among the highest-grossing productions in history. 'Defying Gravity' became a defining showstopper for a generation.

It won nine 1965 Tony Awards and was the first Broadway musical to surpass 3,000 performances. 'Tradition' and 'If I Were a Rich Man' remain instantly recognizable.

Jonathan Larson's rock musical won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony for Best Musical, spotlighting the AIDS crisis for a young audience. 'Seasons of Love' became a cultural touchstone despite the story feeling dated to some.

Julie Taymor's puppet-driven staging won six 1998 Tony Awards and is the highest-grossing Broadway production of all time. Its visual spectacle is unmatched even if the score leans on the film.

Miranda's Washington Heights debut won four 2008 Tony Awards including Best Musical and Best Score. It fused salsa, merengue, and hip-hop years before Hamilton made him a household name.

Its 1996 revival is the longest-running American musical in Broadway history and won six 1997 Tony Awards. The Kander and Ebb score and Fosse-style staging remain endlessly revivable.

It won nine 1976 Tony Awards and the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, running 15 years and 6,137 performances. Its raw, dancer-focused format was groundbreaking for its era.

It won six 2017 Tony Awards including Best Musical on the strength of 'Waving Through a Window,' but its protagonist's deception has drawn heavy backlash. The critically panned 2021 film soured its legacy.

Lloyd Webber's plotless spectacle ran 18 years and was once Broadway's longest-running show, winning seven 1983 Tonys off the strength of 'Memory.' Its threadbare story and infamous 2019 film keep it divisive.

The roller-skate spectacle about anthropomorphic trains was critically savaged and closed on Broadway after under two years. It survives mostly as a curiosity kept alive by a long-running Bochum, Germany production.

At roughly $75 million it was the most expensive Broadway show ever and never recouped, plagued by multiple cast injuries during aerial stunts and brutal reviews. It became the industry's byword for a troubled production.