Tuskegee goes platinum

TUSKEGEE’S RARE AIR: Lionel Richie’s Tuskegee has been certified platinum in just five weeks. “This album continues to amaze me and I am so grateful for all that it has accomplished,” Richie said in a statement. “Just when I think it couldn’t get any bigger, Tuskegee reaches a new level of success. When I came up with the idea for Tuskegee, I didn’t want to be confined by boundaries of age, genre or demographics. I am thrilled with how well this album has been received by people from all walks of life. It is truly living up to the vision we had when we created it.” Tuskegee, on Mercury Nashville, is the best-selling country album of 2012 and the first country album in more than a year to spend two consecutive weeks atop the Pop charts. Richie and Ray Charles are the only artists to top both the Country and R&B charts. (5/9a)