Barbra Streisand makes ‘Billboard’ history with ‘Release Me 2’ debut

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Barbra Streisand has made history once again, this time with her Release Me 2 album, which debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 chart dated August 21.

The debut makes Barbra the only woman to chart a new album in the top 20, or top 40, of the Billboard albums chart in every decade from the 1960s through the 2020s.

The 79-year-old music legend made her Billboard 200 chart debut 58 years ago, when The Barbra Streisand Album bowed at No. 17 in 1963.  It later peaked at No. 9.

The only other act to have sent an album into the top 20 or top 40 in the ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, ’10s and ’20s is Bob Dylan, who accomplished that thanks to his Rough and Rowdy Ways collection, which peaked at No. 2 in 2020.

Streisand also extends her record for the most top-40-charting albums among women in the history of the Billboard 200 chart, which began publishing on a regular, weekly basis in 1956.  Release Me 2 brings her total of top-40-charting albums to 54, ahead of Aretha Franklin, who has 26.  Frank Sinatra tops all acts, with 58.

Release Me 2 features a collection of 10 previously unreleased Streisand recordings.  The first volume, Release Me, came out in 2012.

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