Lionel Richie Makes Music History With Tuskegee

04/26/2012
. Lionel Richie has made music history this week with his country duets album, Tuskegee.

Not only has the album stayed at No 1 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart but Richie now 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.

With the week's sales of 114,110, Tuskegee is the best-selling country album of 2012. It is the first country album in more than a year to spend two consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200. The album's total sales are 536,967.

"I am excited, overwhelmed, and most importantly, very grateful," Richie says. "Making this album has been one of the best times I've ever had in the studio, so that in and of itself was my wonderful reward. The fact that Tuskegee is being so well received is just icing on the cake. What makes this even sweeter is that I'm sharing this success with my 13 talented friends who gave so generously of themselves to make Tuskegee the album that it is.

"I continue to thank my duet partners, to whom I will remain eternally grateful. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support of my fans, who continue to inspire me on a daily basis."

Richie's time at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart began thirty years to the week that he became a member of the Country Music Association in 1982. 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.