Lionel Richie must be dancing on ceiling with this news

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Lionel Richie has the best-selling album in the nation this week with "Tuskegee," his country duets project that has claimed the No. 1 spot on the overall Billboard Top 200 albums chart.

Tuskegee also sits at No. 1 on the Billboard Country Albums chart for the second week. With the week's sales of 128,553, "Tuskegee" is now the best-selling country album of 2012. With overall sales of 422,856, the album is approaching the 500,000 mark in sales required for a gold certification. This is the album's third 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 with sales of 198,892, becoming the best-selling debut by any country artist this year. It debuted at No. 1 on the country albums chart and was his best sales week since SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991. 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 Richie songs 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.