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Barbra Streisand is About to Become the Only Person with a Number One Album in Six Different Decades

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This article is more than 9 years old.

As if she hasn’t already achieved enough, Barbra Streisand is looking to break even more records. Billboard is reporting that her latest album Partners is expected to top the Billboard 200 next week, which would give the singer her tenth number one album. That number makes her the only person in charting history to have a number one album in six different decades (the 60's up til the 10's), an unbelievable achievement.

The charting also helps Barbra pad her lead when it comes to most number one albums among women. Including all artists, she is currently tied with Garth Brooks and the Rolling Stones for fifth place with nine. She has released thirty four studio albums (including her latest), and so far thirty two of them have made it to the top ten. Once Partners debuts next week, she will be tied with Frank Sinatra for the most top ten albums in the US, sitting behind only the Rolling Stones (and catching up quickly).

Partners is the singer’s latest studio effort since 2011’s What Matters Most, a collection of songs written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Should Partners debut at number one as expected, it would be her first to sit in the penthouse since 2009’s Love is the Answer, a jazz standards collection produced by genre mainstay Diana Krall.

This CD sees the singer dueting with an all-male cast on a mix of classic Streisand songs, such as the Oscar-winning “Evergreen” and “People”, as well as standards like “It Had To Be You” and “How Deep is the Ocean?” The majority of the guest stars on the album are current chart-toppers—John Mayer, Michael Buble, John Legend—but she does bring in old favorites such as Stevie Wonder and Billy Joel (singing “New York State of Mind”, no less), making sure the LP appeals to everyone. In fact, the last track on Partners is “Love Me Tender”, performed with the King himself, Elvis Presley.

Expected to come in second is an artist that possibly couldn’t be more different from Barbra: Chris Brown. The troubled R&B singer’s sixth album X is expected to begin in the runner-up slot, selling several thousand less than Streisand. Again, these are just figures being estimated by Billboard based on the first few days of sales and industry forecasts, but by this time next week, congratulations should be in order for Barbra.