Willie Nelson’s new Frank Sinatra-inspired album That’s Life opens at No. 1 on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart (dated March 13). It’s his third leader on the list. The set also bows atop the Traditional Jazz Albums tally — his fourth No. 1 there. (On both charts, Sinatra himself is runner-up at No. 2, with his popular 2015 hits set Ultimate Sinatra.)
That’s Life launches with just under 12,500 equivalent album units earned in the U.S. in the week ending March 4, according to MRC Data. Of that sum, 12,000 are in traditional album sales.
The Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts rank the most popular jazz albums, and traditional jazz albums, respectively, of the week in the U.S. based on multimetric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units comprise album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). Each unit equals one album sale, or 10 individual tracks sold from an album, or 3,750 ad-supported or 1,250 paid/subscription on-demand official audio and video streams generated by songs from an album. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Nelson’s That’s Life is his second jazz covers set of songs made famous by Sinatra, following 2018’s My Way. On the all-genre Billboard 200, That’s Life bows at No. 58, marking Nelson’s 81st chart entry.
That’s Life features familiar favorites like “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” “I’ve Got You Under My Skin,” “You Make Me Feel So Young,” “Luck Be a Lady” and “In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning.”
Of That’s Life’s 12,500 units earned, 12,000 comprise album sales, 500 comprise SEA units (equating to 626,000 on-demand streams of the set’s songs in its first week) and a negligible number comprise TEA. Of the album’s 12,000 copies sold, 8,000 were via CD and 2,000 came via vinyl LP. The remaining 2,000 were digital albums. That’s Life also debuts at No. 18 on the Vinyl Albums chart and No. 20 on the Tastemaker Albums chart. (The latter list ranks the top-selling albums of the week at independent and small chain record stores.)
Nelson previously hit No. 1 on Jazz Albums with Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin (three weeks at No. 1, 2016) and Two Men With the Blues (with Wynton Marsalis, four weeks at No. 1 in 2008). On Traditional Jazz Albums, he topped the tally with Summertime (five weeks), Here We Go Again: Celebrating the Genius of Ray Charles (with Marsalis, featuring Norah Jones, five weeks at No. 1 in 2011) and Two Men (four weeks).
Nelson’s chart history continues to be wide and varied across Billboard’s charts. Of course, the country king has logged a staggering array of hits on the Top Country Albums and Hot Country Songs chart (with 17 and 20 No. 1s, respectively). In addition, he’s logged No. 1s on Jazz Albums, Traditional Jazz Albums, Reggae Albums and Americana/Folk Albums. He’s also notched top 10 efforts on Kid Albums, Blues Albums and the Billboard 200.
