Babs update

BABS RUNS UP THE SCORE: We told you yesterday there was a chance Barbra Streisand’s Partners (Columbia) could best the 180k opening week of her 2009 album Love Is the Answer. Today, it looks very likely that she’ll do just that, as we raise our projection to 175-185k—making it a lock for #1 on next week’s chart. Partners will be Streisand’s 10th #1 album, more than any other female artist, a feat made more striking in that she's now topped the charts in six decades (which no other artist, male or female has achieved). Whoa. One of the more fascinating aspects of this release is the digital percentage, which could be as high as 35%. Traditionally, digital sales have contributed far less to upper-demo artists. While the album is aggressively priced digitally at $7.99, wonderers are wondering if this could signal a shift to a more digital-friendly upper-demo market. (9/19a)