(Columbia Records) Barbra Streisand's album Love is the Answer debuts no. 1 on the US charts by selling 180,415 for the week of September 29th. She has increased her prior record of length of time between her first #1 album (People, 1964) and her most recent.This unprecedented success ties her with the Beatles for 3rd place behind Frank Sinatra (41) and Rolling Stones (36) for top 10 album first week sales. Setting numerous records that may never be exceeded, her new album topped a powerful field of new albums to win #1. Although no other artist or act had matched her prior record of four straight decades at #1, the new achievement may be a bar that can never be equaled.
Streisand is the #1 female album-selling recording artist in history and the only woman to make the Top 10 all time best selling artists list. Her accomplishments include 50 gold, 30 platinum and 13 multi-platinum albums. Barbra's previous number #1 albums include: People (1964), The Way We Were (1974), Greatest Hits Volume II (1979), Guilty (1980), The Broadway Album (1985), Back to Broadway (1993) and Higher Ground (1997).
The first full-length collection of new studio recordings from Barbra Streisand since 2005's Guilty Pleasures, and first new Barbra Streisand album since Live In Concert 2006, Love Is The Answer presents the artist as a cabaret and jazz singer of emotional clarity, depth and maturity, offering the listener a warm and intimate selection of late night meditations on love's powers, heartbreaks and solaces.
Last week, Streisand returned to the New York's legendary Village Vanguard (where she auditioned 48 years ago) and performed songs from Love is the Answer for an intimate crowd of friends and lucky fans. As stated in The New York Times: "Concerts by Ms. Streisand are rare, but the scale of Saturday's show was exceptional enough to briefly upend the natural social order of celebrity events."
