Lionel Richie’s ‘Tuskegee’ Certified Platinum

Lionel Richie’s ‘Tuskegee’ Certified Platinum

Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee has been certified platinum for reaching sales of 1 million, a feat accomplished in an impressive five weeks.

“This album continues to amaze me and I am so grateful for all that it has accomplished,” Richie says. “Just when I think it couldn’t get any bigger, ‘Tuskegee’ reaches a new level of success. When I came up with the idea for ‘Tuskegee,’ I didn’t want to be confined by boundaries of age, genre or demographics. I am thrilled with how well this album has been received by people from all walks of life. It is truly living up to the vision we had when we created it.”

The country duets album, which held the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Top 200 for two consecutive weeks, sits at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart for the fourth week since its March 26 release.

Tuskegee is the best-selling country album of 2012 and the first country album in more than a year to spend two consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200. It is the exciting new chapter in a storied career that includes album sales of more than 100 million, 22 Top 10 hits, five Grammys, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and a host of other awards.

While this is certainly not the first time Richie has topped the Billboard 200, this is his first No. 1 album on the country albums chart. He joins Ray Charles as the only artists in history to have No. 1 albums on both the Billboard Country Albums and R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts.

This is the album’s fifth consecutive week in the Top 5 of the Billboard Top 200. The album was released on March 26 and debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the country albums chart. It was his best sales week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.

Tuskegee has become an immediate worldwide hit, debuting at No. 1 on Canada’s Top Albums chart and reaching the Top 20 albums charts in 10 countries. It hit the Top 10 albums charts in the United Kingdom, Denmark, Holland, Australia, Hong Kong and Sweden. This is his first No. 1 album in Canada in the SoundScan era and his first No. 1 album in Canada since his sophomore solo album, Can’t Slow Down, in 1983.

The album features duets of 13 of his timeless hits with Jason Aldean, Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington, Little Big Town, Tim McGraw, Willie Nelson, Jennifer Nettles, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Rogers, Darius Rucker, Blake Shelton and Shania Twain.