The Greatest Showman in numbers

With new sing-a-long edition and 'reimagined' versions of the soundtrack coming this Christmas, we reveal the numbers behind the global phenomenon.

The Greatest Showman has certainly earned its title – 21 weeks at Number 1 for the cast recording that has spawned a clutch of Top 40 hits, including the monster smash This Is Me, by Keala Settle.

To put its success into perspective, The Greatest Showman's 21 weeks at the top supersedes Ed Sheeran's 20-week run at Number 1 with Divide. So just how has it managed to stay so loved by the British public? We crunch the numbers and look behind the scenes to analyse its longevity.

It's physical sales where The Greatest Showman has flourished, shifting 575,000 copies on CD and vinyl - 46% of its overall figure. It's streaming 'sales' are tally also particularly strong – its notched up 438,000 streaming equivalent sales, while 236,000 of you have downloaded the album in the UK.

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What's kept The Greatest Showman going is its ability to bounce back and forth, so while it's done 21 weeks at Number 1, it's not felt as long because it's allowed some other chart-toppers to sneak in during its run – very generous of it! Track The Greatest Showman's entire chart run.

Four albums knocked it from the top spot during its run. They were: George Ezra's Staying At Tamara's, Kylie Minogue's Golden, Post Malone's Beerbongs & Bentleys, Arctic Monkeys' Tranquillity Base Hotel & Casino. However, none of them managed to keep it at bay for more than one week.

The Greatest Showman has been pretty consistent when it comes to sales, but its highest sales week was back in February, on its sixth week at Number 1, when it shifted 51,462 combined sales.

The closest gap between The Greatest Showman and its nearest rival for the top was a combined sales and streams figure of just 946, in May. The unlucky runner-up? Snow Patrol's Wildness.

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Not that many albums can claim to have been Number 1 for this long, but among those that can are: Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Adele's 21. The Greatest Showman has been at Number 1 longer than these classics: the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, Spice Girls' debut Spice, and Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. In fact, it is the longest-running Number 1 soundtrack in 50 years.

And it's run at the top may not be over yet: a deluxe, sing-a-long edition of the album is release on Friday, while an album of the film's songs 'reimagined' by the likes of Pink, Panic! at the Disco, Kelly Clarkson and Jess Glynne is coming on November 16. It looks like the show is far from over yet.

Article image: The Greatest Showman/20th Century Fox