Broadway League: Highest grossing season

The Broadway League has released end-of-season statistics for the 2011 - 2012 season, which began May 30, 2011 and ended May 27, 2012. For the 2011 - 2012 season, Broadway shows yielded $1,139,311,457 in grosses, and total attendances reached 12,334,312.

"The variety of shows currently on Broadway succeeds in providing something for everyone, so we're not surprised that this is the highest grossing season in our history," commented Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League. "Great seats to a season that has entertained, inspired, and moved our audiences are easy to buy online, by phone, or in person at theatre box offices. Theatregoers can see a Broadway show any night of the week at various curtain times."

There were 40 new shows that opened during the 2011-2012 season: 14 musicals, 23 plays, and 3 specials. All new and continuing productions ran a total of 1522 playing weeks.

To account for variances in the calendar year and in an effort to maintain an end-of-May end to the season, a 53rd week is added to the Broadway season every seven years. For the previous year, the 2010-2011 season, which consisted of 53 weeks, figures totaled $1.08 billion in grosses and 12.53 million in attendance. For comparative purposes, for a 52-week 2010-2011 season, grosses were $1.06 billion and attendances, 12.3 million.

The Broadway League, founded in 1930, is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League's 700-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 240 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry. Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 30 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada.