Barbra Streisand Declared Best-Selling Female Artist: Sorry, Mariah Carey
Barbra Streisand has gone platinum for the 31st time with her hot-selling Partners album. Billboard announced the milestone this morning, while talking more about Barbra Streisand‘s achievements.
“With her latest album Partners reaching Platinum certification, Streisand extends her record for the most Platinum album certifications for a woman in RIAA history. Incredibly, Partners is her 31st album to ship more than 1,000,000 copies in the U.S. The closest competition? Reba McEntire, who has 19 Platinum-certified albums.”
The success of Partners has helped Streisand further her lead as the best selling female artist in the United States with 72.5 million units shipped according to the RIAA. Madonna, who is the best selling female artist in the world with over 300 million albums shipped, is number two in the United States. With album sales at an all-time low, it’s quite doubtful any female artist will ever catch up with Streisand.
It’s quite interesting that fallen pop star Mariah Carey has her PR team constantly announce that she is the “biggest selling female artist ever,” while stats certainly don’t back it up. The RIAA lists Mariah at number three with 63.5 albums shipped. Mariah has been accused of overstating her record sales with chart manipulation tactics by many sources. Unlike Streisand, who still commands a huge audience, Mariah Carey is facing disastrous album sales as tickets for her residency in Las Vegas are moving at turtle-like speeds.
Barbra Streisand, unlike Carey and other aging female divas, gives her audience what they want. Her album Partners was very well received. All Music Guide pretty much sums up what most reviewers thought of Partners.
“Ultimately, Partners works as guided tour down Streisand’s memory lane, and with her resonant voice still in supple shape, any excuse to hear her sing is a welcome invitation.”
Though Streisand has been a huge success for decades, she has garnered some criticism. Barbra recently discussed some of vitriolic reviews she received for Yentl with the New York Times, and was shocked that some of these critics were other women.
“The most vitriolic reviews I got were from women, who never discussed what I was saying in the movie in terms of a celebration of womanhood and the fact that they could have babies and be smart and study and be scholars, that they could do the whole thing. It was all about the costumes, the lighting, the lip-syncing.”
If you are a strong woman in show business, you are bound to encounter misogyny. Still, Barbara Streisand will likely rule the entertainment world for years to come.
[Photo Credit: Sony Records]
