Lin-Manuel Miranda's 'Almost Like Praying' Debuts as Top-Selling Song of the Week

HAMILTON'S Lin-Manuel-Miranda has made it to the top of the Digital Song Sales chart with his charity single "Almost Like Praying," as reported by Billboard. The track landed 111,000 downloads in the week ending October 13th.

Miranda expressed his excitement to Billboard sharing, "I'm filled with gratitude. The generosity of the American people sends a clear message to our fellow citizens and the 78 municipalities of Puerto Rico: we have not forgotten about you, we will never forget you and we will continue to be here for you."

Asked how he was able to put the recording together so quickly he explained to Billboard, "By saying it's for Puerto Rico, that's all I had to do and everyone said yes without even hearing the song. I'm really proud that the lyrics are nothing more than the 78 towns of Puerto Rico. When Puerto Ricans hear this song I want them to say 'Camila Cabello or Jennifer Lopez sang my town.' That's a different level of pride and engagement that comes from seeing that these artists are here and making noise."

Miranda compiled different artists, including Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Estefan, among others, to make this single to benefit the UNIDOS Disaster Relief & Recovery Program to help Puerto Ricans affected by Hurricane Maria.

"Almost Like Praying" is sung in Spanish, for the most part, with soundbites from Broadway's own WEST SIDE STORY. Miranda explains to Billboard how he connected the iconic song "Maria" from the Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim hit musical to the hurricane.

"I wrote this song the day after the hurricane hit Puerto Rico. We realized this storm was the worst storm to hit the island in modern history and its name was Maria -- that's the name of my favorite song from West Side Story. So, I thought, how can I flip that negative connotation into something [positive] for Puerto Rico?"

Miranda has previously landed on the Hot 100 Chart, with his other charity single "Love Make the World Go Round" with Lopez after the Orlando Nightclub Tragedy last year and "We Know The Way" with Opetaia Foa'i from Disney's MOANA.

Check out the official music video for "Almost Like Praying" by Artists for Puerto Rico below!