Broadway‘s 2024-2025 season is officially the highest-grossing in the industry’s history, with total grosses of $1.89 billion surpassing the previous – and pre-Covid – record-holding 2018-2019 season’s $1.82 billion, according to statistics released today by the Broadway League.
Even accounting for the “leap year” nature of the just-ended season – 2024-2025 was a 53-week season while most seasons, including 2018-2019, are 52 weeks – the just-ended season would still be the new record-holder: The first 52 weeks of the most recent season grossed $1.85 billion.
Attendance, however, lagged a tad behind the previous 2018-2019 record-holder: 14,658,531 compared to 14,768,254. Theater-goers in the just-ended season paid about $5.25 more in average ticket prices – $129.12 compared to $123.87 – which accounts for the lower attendance-higher gross disparity.
“There is so much to celebrate about the 2024-2025 season,” said Jason Laks, President of The Broadway League, in a statement. “Looking back, it was never a given that audiences would return to their seats or that every theater’s lights would come back up [post-Covid shutdown]. It has taken the hard work and imagination of thousands and thousands of dreamers and doers to bring the magic of Broadway back.”
But, Laks continued, “As we look to next season, we have to be sober about the challenges Broadway faces. We can’t be satisfied with 2019’s definition of success anymore. With rising costs hitting every facet of production, it is becoming harder and harder to bring live theatre to the stage. Shows today have an ever-shorter window to get on their feet. The investment that fuels Broadway is something we can’t ever take for granted.”
News of the recent season’s spot as the new record-holder comes just as one of the year’s biggest hits – Good Night, And Good Luck starring George Clooney – made Broadway history last week with an eight-performance gross of $4,238,813, breaking the $4,041,493 record set by Hamilton in 2018. The average ticket price for Good Night was $337.59, with premium seats going for $825.
In fact, the week leading up to the Memorial Day Weekend holiday was a good one for most Broadway productions, even if none could come close to Good Night‘s massive $4.2M take. (Last December, Wicked became the first Broadway show to top the $5M weekly gross mark, but that was for a special nine-performance December holiday week).
All but five shows posted gains during the week ending May 25, and two of the productions that slipped had their reasons: Sunset Blvd. was down $208,747 to $1,053,373 with star Nicole Scherzinger out for a pre-planned three performances. The Picture of Dorian Gray was off $211,235 from the previous week to $1,113,391 due to a pre-planned six-performance week.
Among the shows reporting the most significant gains were Good Night, And Good Luck (up $282,845 from the previous week to its record-breaking $4,238,813; Death Becomes Her (up $229,324 over the previous week to $1,559,924); Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (up $216,875 to $1,006,718); The Lion King (up $252,385 to $2,055,222); and Wicked (up $217,084 to $2,353,681). Glengarry Glen Ross, which added a ninth performance to the week, was up $334,511 to $2,750,608.
Another of the season’s mega-hits, Othello, was up $121,477 to $3,327,506. Maybe Happy Ending was up $87,044 to $1,091,668, marking the 10x-Tony nominated musical’s best week ever, about $70,000 higher than its previous best during last December’s lucrative Christmas week.
Also gaining lots of steam in recent weeks is Buena Vista Social Club, which had its best week ever last week with a gross of $1,240,685. The musical, with a score sung entirely in Spanish, has caught on with audiences. Up for 10 Tony Awards, BVSC hasn’t grossed less than $1 million in the last six weeks.
Sell-outs for the week were Buena Vista Social Club, Good Night, And Good Luck, Hamilton, John Proctor is the Villain, Just in Time, Maybe Happy Ending, Oh, Mary!, Operation Mincemeat, Othello, Purpose, The Outsiders, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Wicked.
In all, Broadway’s 40 productions grossed $47,275,423 for Week 53, an uptick of 7% over the previous week. Attendance was 342,076, up 2%.
For the record, the 2024-2025 season included 77 productions, 43 of which opened in this season. Audiences filled 91.2% of available seats during the season, which began on May 20, 2024, and ended on May 25, 2025.
All figures courtesy of The Broadway League. For additional box office information visit the League’s website.