The Lion King named top-grossing Broadway show of 2013

The Minskoff Theatre has presented The Lion King since 2006

Walt Disney musical The Lion King was Broadway's top-grossing show of 2013, taking nearly $97 million (£58.7m) since the beginning of the year.

The hit show, now in its 16th year, is Broadway's all-time highest-earner and became the first Broadway show to pass $1 billion (£605m) earlier this year.

Only Chicago, Cats and The Phantom of the Opera have run longer in New York.

The Book of Mormon was 2013's second biggest grosser, having taken $90.4m (£54.7m) over the last 12 months.

Another record was set this month when Wicked earned $3.2m (£1.9m) over nine performances for the week ending Sunday.

The success of the Wizard of Oz-based musical, now in its 10th year, marked the first time a Broadway show has made more than $3m in a single week.

Overall numbers, compiled by the Broadway League, were boosted by increased ticket prices, high demand, reconfigured seating in some theatres and the use of premium-priced seats.

The Lion King's success was notable given that there are five bigger theatres on Broadway than the Minskoff Theatre, the show's New York home since 2006.

The stage version of Disney's 1994 film set a theatre record itself last week, having made $2.8m (£1.7m) over its nine performances for the week ending Sunday.

The show has been running in London since 1999 and returned to Sydney earlier this month, having originally played there from 2003 to 2005.

Several other Broadway productions - among them Tony-winner Kinky Boots and the Daniel Craig-Rachel Weisz revival of Harold Pinter's Betrayal - finished 2013 with box office records.

According to its producers, the latter show made history last week by having the best single week - $1.4m (£846,700) over nine shows - for a play presented on Broadway.