Tony Bennett earns his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 at age 85

Six new albums in the top tier, including Needtobreathe, Demi Lovato, Mindless Behavior

By Katie Hasty Wednesday, Sep 28, 2011 3:05 PM

Tony Bennett

Credit: AP Photo

At the age 85, Tony Bennett has finally earned his very first No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, with “Duets II” arriving at the penthouse. The set moved 179,000 copies, with numbers helped along by the sheer number and caliber of stars that appeared on the set, including Amy Winehouse’s final recording session and collaborations with Lady Gaga, Mariah Carey and Carrie Underwood.

The famed jazz singer has earned 14 Grammys throughout his 50+ years of experience, but his charting best was previously in 2006 when the first volume of “Duets” arrived at No. 3. Now, he becomes the oldest living act to achieve a No. 1 album; that title formerly belonged to Bob Dylan, whose “Together Through Life” topped that chart when he was 67.

Lady Antebellum’s “Own the Night” slips from No. 1 to No. with 125,000 copies, a sales decrease of 64%. Adele’s “21” falls No. 2 to No. 3 (117,000, -2%).

Demi Lovato’s third album “Unbroken” starts at No. 4 with 96,000 units. Her last “Here We Go Again” (2009) debuted at No. 1 with 108,000, while her first “Don’t Forget” (2008) got to No. 2 with 89,000.

Lil Wayne’s former chart-topper “Tha Carter IV” dips No. 3 to No. 5 (84,000, -28%).

Needtobreathe’s “The Reckoning” bows at No. 6 with 49,000, which is the rock band’s best charting and sales week. The Taylor Swift tourmates’ previous “The Outsiders” (2009) made it to No. 20 with 21,000.

The teenaged R&B quartet Mindless Behavior’s debut album “#1 Girl” enters at No. 7 with 36,000.

Gavin DeGraw’s “Sweeter” starts on the chart with 34,000 copies at No. 8. His last album “Free” peaked at No. 19 with 26,000 in 2009.

Jay-Z and Kanye West’s “Watch the Throne” stays put at No. 9 with 31,000.

The soundtrack to Cameron Crowe’s recent rock doc “Pearl Jam Twenty” starts on the chart with 27,000 at No. 10. It includes newly unearthed demo, alternative and live tracks from the rock band.

Album sales are down 5% compared to last week and up 5% compared to the same week last year. Sales for the year are up 3% compared to last year so far.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.