My Fair Lady (Broadway cast recording)

The Broadway cast recording of the musical My Fair Lady was released as an album on April 2, 1956. The songs were composed by Frederick Loewe with lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and conducted by Franz Allers, while the cast included stars Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews. The album became a massive seller, topping the charts on the US "Billboard" 200 for fifteen weeks at different times in 1956 (eight consecutive weeks), 1957, 1958 and 1959. In the UK, upon its release in 1958, the album reached No.1 for 19 consecutive weeks and became the biggest-selling album of the year. The album was released on Columbia Records, whose President, Goddard Lieberson provided the $375,000 needed to stage the show in return for the rights to the Cast recording. The album was later re-issued on Compact disc in 1988 and has been re-released a number of times since. It is currently available with bonus tracks.
The original cast recording had the (currently in 2018) 5th longest run ever for any album in the "Billboard" 200 charts with 480 weeks.
The leads of the Broadway cast re-recorded their parts for the London cast recording, which was made in stereo in 1959.