Barbra Streisand Debuts At A Low Point On The Charts She Hasn’t Seen In Almost Half A Century

For decades, Barbra Streisand could almost always be counted on to reach the top 10 whenever she delivered a new album. Streisand still claims the second-most No. 1 titles on the Billboard 200 among women, with 11, coming in behind only Taylor Swift’s 14 rulers. While she remains a powerhouse and a legend, the era of guaranteed commercial grandeur may be over.

Streisand’s new album The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume II reaches several Billboard rankings after its first full tracking frame – but it fails to approach the top 10 on the main list of the biggest albums in the country.

The Secret of Life Debuts on the Billboard 200

The Secret of Life debuts on the Billboard 200 at No. 31 in its first full week of availability in the United States. The collaborations project, which features tunes that pair Streisand with stars like Ariana Grande, Mariah Carey and Bob Dylan, moved just under 20,000 equivalent units, according to Luminate. Almost all of those were pure sales, as it racked up a little more than 18,300 purchases.

Barbra Streisand’s Lowest-Charting Album in Decades

Streisand hasn’t seen one of her proper albums peak lower than No. 31 since 1976. That year, Classical Barbra only climbed as high as No. 45. At the time, she was still one of the biggest stars in the world, but the classical project, which featured the singer performing in multiple languages, clearly didn’t appeal to the fanbase she had built with huge releases like My Name Is Barbra and a slew of smash singles.

A Top 10 Bestseller

While The Secret of Life underperforms on the Billboard 200, the set does open at No. 4 on the Top Album Sales chart. It becomes the EGOT winner’s sixteenth title to land inside the highest tier on the ranking. Throughout her career, Streisand has collected 26 placements on the Top Album Sales list and 65 on the Billboard 200.