For all the good and bad publicity Chris Brown has gotten in the lead-up to the oft-delayed album release of “X,” it looks like a different artist familiar with the No. 1 spot on the charts will take lead over him next week, anyway.
Barbra Streisand is currently estimated to sell 150,000 copies of her new duets set “Partners,” according to Billboard. That's enough to put her up and over the top of the “Loyal” rapper at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 tally; Brown, right now, is on target to move about 130,000 copies.
If Streisand ascends to the summit, that makes her the first artist to have a No. 1 album in each of the past six decades. Blake Shelton, Michael Buble and Stevie Wonder are among “Partners'” many partners. Streisand is also beating the promotional path, by dropping by “The Tonight Show” as its sole guest on Monday, performing on “Good Morning America” yesterday and scheduling an appearance on “The View” for tomorrow.
Brown stopped off at Jimmy Fallon's show last week, and covered Billboard Magazine earlier this month.
The final tally for the Billboard 200 will be out on Sept. 24, revealing who takes the top of the sales race: Brown or Streisand.
For today's tally, Lecrae earned his first No. 1 album with “Anomaly,” selling a modest 88,000 units. Maroon 5's “V” slips No. 1 to No. 2; R&B singer Jhene Aiko's “Souled Out” bows at No. 3; Ryan Adams scores his highest charter at No. 4 with his self-titled set; Lee Brice's “I Don't Dance” debuts at No. 5; and Jeezy's “Seen It All: The Autobiography” falls No. 2 to No. 6.
Interpol's “El Pintor” launches at No. 7 with 31,000. Dustin Lynch's new “Where It's At” is at No. 8, the “Guardians of the Galaxy” soundtrack descends No. 3 to No. 9 and Robert Plant's fresh solo set “Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar” roars at No. 10.
Sales for the year are still down about 15% over last year so far.