Hall of fame : Barbra Streisand makes music history

Singer only performer with six decades of number one albums to her credit

LOS ANGELES: It seems no one can rain on her parade, as singer-songwriter Barbra Streisand comes to the fore as the only performer to have a number one album in each of the past six decades. Topping the US Billboard 200 chart, her latest album Partner sold 196,000 copies in its first week, according to sales figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

With her latest hit album, Streisand also became the only female artiste to grab the number one spot on the Billboard album chart on 10 different occasions. Partners features Streisand singing classic songs with male artists, such as New York State of Mind with Billy Joel, Somewhere with Josh Groban and People with Stevie Wonder.

Streisand now holds fourth place on the list of acts with the most number one albums, tailing The Beatles’ 19 chart-toppers, Jay Z’s 13 records and Bruce Springsteen’s 11. Her first number one album, People, was released exactly 50 years ago, when it hit number one on the chart dated October 31, 1964, Billboard said.

The 72-year-old led a slew of new entries on the weekly Billboard 200 chart, which measures both physical and digital album sales. Rapper Chris Brown saw his latest album X enter the chart at number two with sales of 145,000 copies. The album is the first since Brown released from a Los Angeles jail in June after serving a one-year sentence for violating probation from the 2009 assault of his then girlfriend, pop singer Rihanna.

Country singer Tim McGraw debuted at number three with Sundown Heaven Town, while veteran country artiste George Strait clocked number four with his live record The Cowboy Rides Away. Other new entries include alt-rockers Train at number five with Bulletproof Picasso, pop-rockers One Republic at number six with Native, and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash featuring Myles Kennedy at number ten with World On Fire.

Last week’s chart-topper, Christian music rapper Lecrae’s Anomaly, dropped to number eight this week. For the week ending on September 21, overall album sales tallied at 4.36 million, down four per cent from the comparable sales week in 2013, while year-to-date sales totaled 171.3 million, down 14 per cent from last year, Billboard said. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2014.

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