He's sold 125 million albums worldwide, penned 36 Top 40 hits, won a Grammy and a Golden Globe and performed for millions of packed-house crowds around the world. But Neil Diamond has never had a No. 1 debut or No. 1 album -- until now. HOME BEFORE DARK -- Diamond's latest album and second for Columbia Records with producer Rick Rubin -- has entered Billboard's Top 200 in the top slot, with first week's sales of 145,840 (according to SoundScan), giving the legendary singer, songwriter and performer the first No. 1 album of his monumental career.

On May 7 2008, Neil Diamond returned to New York to play an impromptu surprise show at The Bitter End, the site of some of his earliest live gigs. Performing on a small New York nightclub stage for the first time in more than 40 years, Neil delighted his SRO audience, many of whom had lined up outside the club since the early hours of the morning, with songs from his new album -- "Don't Go There," "Home Before Dark" and "Pretty Amazing Grace" -- as well as the classics "Solitary Man," "Kentucky Woman," "Cherry Cherry" and "Sweet Caroline."

In addition to being both the highest debut and highest-charting release of Diamond's career, the critically acclaimed HOME BEFORE DARK is the 46th Neil Diamond album since 1966's The Feel of Neil Diamond to appear on the Billboard 200 and marks his 15th full-length song collection to hit the Top 10.