The musical, which was plagued with problems from its inception, took $2.9m (£1.8m) over nine performances last week, according to The Broadway League.

The Edge said it was a "proud day" for everyone who has been involved.

The show, which cost $75m (£48m) to make, is the most expensive Broadway show to be produced.

Initially the production was beset with problems, which included injuries to some of the cast members, opening night delays, poor reviews and unpaid royalty claims.

"For all the problems, there was magic on the stage," Bono said.

"Things did get chaotic and messy after our producer Tony Adams died. But this week's news has us all giddy again and we are raising our glasses to Tony, to our indefatigable cast, crew, creative - and production team."

Co-producer Jeremiah Harris admitted he and his colleague, fellow producer Michael Cohl, "came into a very difficult situation" when they signed up.

"We've changed the team. We added players when we needed to. We've moved some players around to different positions. And the success we've had here is the culmination of all those people working hard to get done what we've gotten done," he said.

According to figures collected by Cohl and Harris, it is thought that half of all attendees to Spider-Man had never been to a Broadway show before.

They claim the production has been seen by more than 600,000 people during the past year.

bbc.com