The critically-acclaimed Broadway production, which tells the story of Alexander Hamilton, one of America's founding fathers, won 11 awards including best musical after receiving a record 16 nominations.
Briton Cynthia Erivo won best performance by a lead actress in a musical for her role as Celie Harris in The Color Purple.
Fighting back tears on stage, she said: "I promised myself I wouldn't cry because my make-up artist would be really mad at me.
"Thank you American Theatre Wing for making a London girl very, very happy."
The awards were dedicated to the victims of the massacre at a gay nightclub in Orlando which left at least 49 people dead and another 53 in hospital.
Corden opened the show with a message which said: "Our hearts go out to all of those affected by this atrocity.
"All we can say is you're not on your own right now. Your tragedy is our tragedy.
"Hate will never win. Together we have to make sure of that. Tonight's show stands as a symbol and a celebration of that principle."
The attack prompted the cast of Hamilton to drop their Revolutionary War muskets for their performance at the awards, a spokesman for the musical said.
Speaking before the ceremony in New York, Lin-Manuel Miranda, the star and creator of Hamilton, said the shooting was "heavy in my heart and heavy in my mind".
Veteran American actor Frank Langella, who won best performance by a lead actor in a play for his role in The Father, urged Orlando to be "strong" in the wake of the atrocity.
"When something bad happens we have three choices," he said. "We let it define us, we let it destroy us, or we let it strengthen us.
"Today in Orlando we had a hideous dose of reality.
"I urge you Orlando to be strong because I'm standing in a room full of the most generous human beings on earth and we will be with you every step of the way."
Jessica Lange won the award for best performance by a lead actress in a play for her role as morphine-addicted Mary Tyrone in Long Day's Journey Into Night.
"This is a dream come true," she said. "It fills me with such happiness even on such a sad day as this."
Hamilton, which is expected to open at London's Victoria Palace Theatre in October 2017, has achieved rave reviews and sell-out performances since making its debut in February last year.
However, it failed to beat the record 12 awards won by The Producers in 2001.
Corden, who won a 2012 Tony Award for his performance in One Man, Two Guvnors, hosted the 70th Tony Awards following his successful stint as the presenter of The Late, Late Show in America.
The ceremony also featured Barbra Streisand, who took to the Tony Awards stage for the first time in 46 years to hand out the best musical award.
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