Top Ten Hamilton Songs

Hamilton is a 2015 musical written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It features a staggering 46 songs and the musical, which you can find on Disney +, is 204 minutes long. Out of the 46 songs, these are the ten best.

 10. Guns and Ships

‘Guns and Ships’ is sung by Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr and Christopher Jackson. It’s about when Hamilton returned to fight for independence in the Revolutionary War after being forced to leave because of infighting. It holds the title of the fastest song in musical theatre with an average of 5.3 words per second and the fastest part reaching 6.3 words per second.

9. My Shot

‘My Shot’ is sung by most of the original Broadway cast of Hamilton. It’s about Hamilton meeting Lafayette, Laurens and Mullinger and how they instantly bond, although they never actually met all at once like that. It took Lin-Manuel Miranda a year to write, making it the longest song to write in Hamilton.

8. Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)

‘Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)’ is sung by most of the original Broadway cast of Hamilton. It is when the USA won the Revolutionary War against England.

7. Helpless

‘Helpless’ is sung by Phillipa Soo, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Renée Elise Goldsberry and Jasmine Cephas Jones. It follows Eliza Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton when they meet for the first time and instantly fall in love, leading them to get married.

6. Washington on Your Side

‘Washington on Your Side’ is sung by Daveed Diggs, Leslie Odom Jr and Okieriete Onaodowan. It’s about Jefferson, Burr and Maddison’s realisation that Hamilton’s power is only because of Washington, leading Jefferson to run for president and Washington to resign.

5. Wait for It

‘Wait for It’ is sung by Leslie Odom Jr. It’s about when Burr realised that Hamilton gets everything quickly while he has to wait and work for it. It was Miranda’s favourite song because he (when he played Alexander Hamilton) didn’t have any lines.

4. Burn

‘Burn’ is sung by Phillipa Soo. It’s about when Eliza found out about Hamilton cheating through the Reynolds Pamphlet. In the musical, she is burning the letters, in real life it is unknown whether she did burn them or just lost them but they can’t be found to this day. In the musical, to make sure the actress playing Eliza doesn’t burn her dress, the dress that she wears is fireproof.

3. The Room Where It Happens

‘The Room Where It Happens’ is sung by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr, Daveed Diggs and Okieriete Onaodowan. ‘The Room Where It Happens’ is narrated by Burr, saying how nobody knows what went on in the room, no one knows what exactly happened. It became a tik tok sensation and is Miranda’s 5th most popular song.

2. Non-stop

‘Non-Stop’ is sung by the original Broadway cast of Hamilton. It follows Hamilton after Lauren’s death, drowning himself in work and discarding his family. It also became a TikTok sensation and is Miranda’s 6th most popular song.  Non-Stop is the longest song in the musical at 6.25 minutes.

1. Satisfied

‘Satisfied’ is sung by the original Broadway cast of Hamilton. It follows Angelica’s first encounter with Hamilton and goes on to say how she loves him but she would never do anything because she loves her sister more. However, there are some facts that Miranda got wrong while writing Angelica’s love story with her sister’s husband. One of the reasons why Angelica couldn’t marry Hamilton is because he was poor and she needed to marry a wealthy man for her rank in society as a daughter of a man with no sons. Philip Schuyler (her father) had plenty of sons and some made it to adulthood. In addition, she was already married when she met Hamilton, Miranda only said she wasn’t for the effect.

Recommended Reading: Five Details You May Have Missed in Hamilton