Bennett beats own Billboard record

At 88, veteran crooner Tony Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living artist to land a No. 1 record on the weekly U.S. Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday with his latest compilation of duets with Lady Gaga.

“Cheek to Cheek,” which features New York singers Bennett and Gaga singing classics such as “Anything Goes” and “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” sold 131,000 copies in its first week, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.

Bennett previously set the record for becoming the oldest-living artist to land a No. 1 album in 2011 aged 85, with his compilation “Duets,” which included a track with Gaga.

“Cheek to Cheek” is the second compilation of classic songs to top the Billboard 200 chart for the second consecutive week, after fellow New York songstress Barbra Streisand’s “Partners” debuted at No. 1 last week.

“Partners” dropped to No. 3 this week, behind country singer Kenny Chesney’s “Big Revival,” which entered the chart at No. 2 with sales of 130,000.

For the week ending Sept. 28, total album sales clocked in at 4.4 million units, down 14 percent from the comparable week in 2013, while year-to-date total sales totaled 175.71 million. Reuters