Check out these Broadway shows featuring pop music hits

These musicals feature songs from classic rock stars and modern pop stars.

Turn on the Top 40 radio or your throwback rock playlist, and you might just hear... showtunes? Pop music on Broadway isn't a new phenomenon, with jukebox musicals like Mamma Mia!, featuring the songs of ABBA, fueling the craze years ago. But now, there's a whole host of Broadway shows that feature pop music, from classic Motown tunes to '80s and '90s hits to chart-toppers from the last decade. Whether you're an original cast album fan looking for something different or a pop music junkie that's new to musical theatre, you'll find a Broadway show you can groove along to.

Get Broadway musical tickets on New York Theatre Guide.

Broadway shows with pop music

Hear pop music from all different eras at these Broadway shows. Audiences of all ages will get to hear the hits they grew up hearing on the radio and streaming on Spotify.

MJ The Musical

Rock with Michael Jackson all night at MJ The Musical. With more than 25 hits from Jackson, the Jackson 5, and more, this musical will have you dancing into the sunlight. Jackson's hits are reframed in new, creative ways in this musical, as they bring back key memories from Jackson's life and career while he rehearses for his 1992 Dangerous World Tour.

Get MJ The Musical tickets now.

The Lion King

Go to The Lion King and you'll hear the music of one of the best-selling musical artists of all time: Sir Elton John. He composed the original music for the original 1994 Disney film (collaborating with lyricist Tim Rice), and much of that music features in the Broadway production.

Even if you're unfamiliar with The Lion King, you may recognize songs like "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and "Circle of Life," which John released as radio singles, making them into commercial hits in the 1990s that remain famous today. "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" even won John the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance alongside an Oscar for Best Original Song in 1995.

Get The Lion King tickets now.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical

Baz Luhrmann's original film was also a jukebox movie musical, almost exclusively featuring covers of songs previously recorded by pop artists. For example, "Lady Marmalade," now widely associated with the film, was originally made famous in the 1970s by the girl group Labelle, and "Your Song," sung by the leading character Christian, was first an Elton John hit.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical follows suit, incorporating both those songs from the movie (as well as plenty of others including Carol Channing's "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend," Madonna's "Material Girl," and Nat King Cole's "Nature Boy") and piles on dozens of pop songs that have topped the charts since the movie's 2001 release. It's impossible to name them all, but know that you'll hear an eclectic mix of songs from artists ranging from Adele to Britney Spears to Soft Cell to Tina Turner. It's nothing short of a pop spectacular (spectacular).

Get Moulin Rouge! The Musical tickets now.

& Juliet

We're confident that you'll know the words to most of the songs in this larger-than-life musical. After roaring with laughter and applause the first time, you'll want to go, baby, one more time. & Juliet features 30 pop songs from the '90s and '00s, all from the catalog of Swedish writer and producer Max Martin. He's behind Britney Spears's, the Backstreet Boys', and Katy Perry's biggest hits, plus many more.

All these songs are set to an original, new story from Schitt's Creek writer David West Read. The musical follows Juliet, of Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, and imagines what would happen if she didn't die at the end of that classic play. She journeys to Paris, finds new friends and lovers, and finds herself. It's gonna be you that lives out your teenage dreams at this show.

Get & Juliet tickets now.

A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical

Good times — and good music — never seemed so good. The greatest hits of Neil Diamond hit the Broadway stage this fall in a new bio-musical about the bestselling artist's life. Two actors play Diamond as a young up-and-coming musician from Brooklyn and as an older man with multiple lifetime achievement awards, two hall of fame inductions, and lots of bestselling records under his belt. Discover how Diamond became an international sensation and hear all his classic songs, like "America," "You Don't Bring Me Flowers," "Song Sung Blue," and of course, "Sweet Caroline."

Get A Beautiful Noise tickets now.

Titanique

Titanique is an Off-Broadway show, but it features the hits of an artist with one of the most titanic music careers in recent history: Celine Dion. Known for singing the Titanic movie's iconic theme song, "My Heart Will Go On," Dion is now a character in this campy parody of James Cameron's film. She narrates a kooky retelling of what really happened to Jack and Rose, and the story incorporates lots of her career hits, like "Tell Him" and "All By Myself."

Get Titanique tickets now.

Broadway shows written by pop stars

Some Broadway musicals have famous singer/songwriters behind them, but they've written original scores instead of lending their chart-topping hits. If you like these artists, check out these musicals to hear their work in a new style and experience songs by them that you wouldn't hear otherwise.

Here Lies Love

Two music powerhouses teamed up to write this entirely sung-through musical: David Byrne and Fatboy Slim. The former Talking Heads frontman and the pioneering big-beat DJ both departed from their usual genres to pen disco-pop songs detailing the rise and fall of former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos. Their music pulses through every inch the Broadway Theatre, which is transformed into a nightclub to make the Here Lies Love experience immersive.

Get Here Lies Love tickets now.

Harmony

In 1997, Barry Manilow and his longtime songwriting partner Bruce Sussman wrote a musical about the Comedian Harmonists, a 20th-century German Jewish choral group whose rise to stardom crashed headfirst into the rise of Nazism. Now, in 2023, the musical is finally making its Broadway debut after more than 25 years. Naturally, Manilow's songs like "Copacabana" aren't a natural fit for this story, so audiences will get to hear fresh, original Manilow songs in a classic musical theatre style.

Check back for information on Harmony tickets on New York Theatre Guide.