Barbra Streisand adds to her legend with Partners, her 10th No. 1 album on the Billboard 200. The all-star collaborations set sold a larger-than-anticipated 196,000 copies in the week ending Sept. 21, according to Nielsen SoundScan. That’s the biggest sales week for a female artist in 2014, and the 72-year-old Streisand’s largest sales frame since Dec. 28, 1997, when Higher Ground shifted 402,000.
With Partners‘ arrival at No. 1, Streisand becomes the only act with No. 1 albums in each of the last six decades. Her first No. 1 came almost exactly 50 years ago, when People hit the top of the chart dated Oct. 31, 1964. She last reached the summit with 2009’s Love Is the Answer.
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Her 10th chart-topper ties her with Elvis Presley for the fourth-most No. 1s in history. Ahead of them are The Beatles (with 19), Jay Z (13) and Bruce Springsteen (11).
On Sept. 17, industry forecasters initially pegged the new set to start with 150,000. Two days later, that projection grew to 175,000. The sizable sales launch can be owed to publicity Streisand generated during the week, an attractive $7.99 price for the set at iTunes and Amazon MP3, and the album’s all-male guest stars (ranging from Josh Groban and Michael Buble to Blake Shelton and Billy Joel).
Some of the album’s publicity was driven by a buzzworthy return to late-night TV for the diva: She was the only guest on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Sept. 15. During the appearance, she humorously duetted with Fallon, sat down for a chat and turned in a solo performance. It was her first proper visit to late-night TV (and The Tonight Show) since 1963. The official clip of the three-song medley was the third-most-watched late-night video on YouTube in the week ending Sept. 19, with more than 2 million views (2.7 million through Sept. 24).
The album was also goosed by release-week interviews on ABC’s Good Morning America and The View, as well as Streisand’s own dedicated SiriusXM channel, where the singer plays DJ by introducing songs and telling stories about the making of select tunes.