Lionel Richie's "Tuskegee" Now the Second-Best-Selling Album of 2012

ABC/RICK ROWELLWhat a year it's been for Lionel Richie.  The veteran singer's smash Tuskegee has just overtaken Whitney Houston's Whitney: The Greatest Hits compilation to become the second-best-selling album of the year to date, according to Billboard.com.  As of this past week, Richie's country-duets collection has sold 789,000 copies, 5,000 more than the Whitney best-of.  Topping 2012's best-sellers list is Adele's 21, with an impressive 3.3 million in 2012 so far.

Tuskegee's sales also have surpassed those of Richie's last three studio efforts combined: 2004's Just for You, 2006's Coming Home and 2009's Just Go have moved a total of 751,000 units.

Tuskegee dropped from #3 to #9 on the Billboard 200 this week, marking the eighth week it's spent in the album chart's top 10.  Yahoo! Music reports that this ties it with Frank Sinatra's 1993 Duets collection for second place on the list of the most weeks spent in the Billboard 200's top 10 by a duets album.  The record is held by Ray Charles' 2004 release, Genius Loves Company, with 13 weeks spent on the tally's upper reaches.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio