"Hamilton," one of the most popular shows on Broadway right now, took home a Grammy on Monday night for best musical theater album.
Before "Hamilton" creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda took the stage with his cast to accept the award, the group performed the show's opening number, "Alexander Hamilton," which was broadcast live from the Richard Rogers theater in New York City.
Their performance happened around 9:30 p.m. and afterwards, Google search trends show people had just one question on their minds: "Who is Alexander Hamilton?"
Take a look. The peak in searches happened around 9:36 p.m., just after the cast sang their final notes.
We first spotted this trend after Google tweeted about during the Grammys. Searches for "Who is Alexander Hamilton?" quadrupled following the cast's performance.
So just who is Alexander Hamilton?
The musical, as you might have guessed from its title, chronicles the life of one of America's most storied founding fathers: Alexander Hamilton. From his rough childhood as a bastard orphan who immigrated from the Caribbean island of Nevis, to his work creating the US banking system as Secretary of Treasury, Miranda's show takes the audience through the extensive, and sometimes scandalous, life and career of the man who became the face on the $10 bill.
The show ends with Hamilton's untimely death; he was shot in a duel by fellow politician Aaron Burr. Burr's name also saw a Google trend spike after the cast performed at the Grammys.
"Me? I'm the damn fool that shot him," Leslie Odom, Jr., the actor who plays Burr, explains of his character during the show's opening song.
While people were Googling Hamilton and his compatriots during the Grammys, they were also searching for something a little harder to come by than just information: tickets to see the show on Broadway. Hamilton tickets are notoriously hard to come by, and we can't imagine the cast's Grammy performance will make them any easier to get.
As King George says to the newly formed United States government during the show, "good luck!"
