Partners (Barbra Streisand album)

Partners is the thirty-fourth studio album by Barbra Streisand, released in September 2014. The album features Streisand singing duets with an all-male lineup including Stevie Wonder, Michael Bublé, Billy Joel, John Legend, John Mayer, Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, and the late Elvis Presley. The collection also features Streisand's first studio-recorded duet with her now 47 year old son, Jason Gould.^[7] The album release was promoted on The Tonight Show, where Streisand was the evening's sole guest and sang a medley with host Jimmy Fallon.^[8]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(55/100)[1]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
New York Daily News	[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
The New York Times	Negative[5]
The Telegraph (UK)	[6]

While the recordings are new, most of the songs have a previous history as Streisand releases. Two classic Streisand duets are updated with new partners: "What Kind of Fool", newly performed with John Legend (originally with Barry Gibb) and "Lost Inside of You", newly performed with Babyface (originally with Kris Kristofferson). The deluxe edition features an additional duet with Babyface along with previously released material featuring Frank Sinatra, Bryan Adams, Barry Manilow, and Barry Gibb.

Partners topped the Billboard 200 with sales of 196,000 copies in the first week, making Streisand the only recording artist to have a number-one album in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s.^[9]

The album sold more than 0.7 million worldwide during only five week.

In its debut week the album topped US sales charts, selling over 196,000 copies. It slipped to No. 3 with 127,000 in second week, the lowest second week decline for a No. 1 debuting album since the week ending Feb. 16. Remarkably, Streisand has the smallest second-week drop for an album by an artist in almost four years, the album remained at number 3 for a further 2 weeks selling 73,000 copies (a 42% decline), 49,000 (down 33%) and dropped to number 5 on its fifth week with sales of 40,000 (18% decline) bringing total sales to 485,038 to date.^[12] In Canada and Australia the album also reached number 1, selling 13,000 copies in each country.^[13][14] In the Netherlands, New Zealand, and UK the album reached the number 2 spot on national sales charts, Streisand's highest charting album in the Netherlands since One Voice peaked at the same position in 1987.^[15] In Ireland the album reached the number 6 spot, Streisand's highest charting album since Guilty Pleasures in 2005.^[16] The album debuted in the Top 10 in Austria, Germany, among other nations. The album reached the top 40 in Belgium (both regions), Denmark, Italy, and Switzerland.

Certifications

• Partners, Barbra Archives discography