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There's a 51-year age difference between the artists at #1 and #2 on The Billboard 200. Bob Dylan, 67, debuts at #1 with his latest album, Together Through Life. Miley Cyrus, 16, holds at #2 with her soundtrack to Hannah Montana: The Movie.

With this debut, Dylan regains the title of the oldest living artist ever to land a #1 album.

The rock icon, who turns 68 on May 24, takes the crown back from Neil Diamond, who was 67 when he debuted at #1 a year ago with Home Before Dark. Dylan was just 22 when he first hit the chart in September 1963 with The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. He was 24 years younger than the president at the time, John F. Kennedy.

Now, Dylan is 20 years older than President Barack Obama. One of Dylan's most prized songs is "Forever Young," but I guess this shows that nobody stays young forever.

Dylan first established the record of the oldest living artist to land a #1 album in September 2006, when, at 65, he opened at #1 with Modern Times. Only three other solo artists have had #1 albums past the age of 60- Louis Armstrong, who was 62 in 1964 when he topped the chart with Hello, Dolly!; Barry Manilow, who was 62 in 2006 when he topped the chart with The Greatest Songs Of The Fifties; and Rod Stewart, who was 61 in 2006 when he rang the bell with Still The Same...Great Rock Classics Of Our Time.

(Two pop legends were even older when they recorded their final albums, but the albums weren't released until after their deaths. Ray Charles' Genius Loves Company hit #1 in 2005, eight months after the R&B legend died at 73. Johnny Cash's American V: A Hundred Highways hit #1 in 2006, nearly three years after the country giant died at 71.)

There's no question that the pop scene is more receptive to older artists than it used to be. From 1966, when Frank Sinatra, then 50, landed his last #1 album, Strangers In The Night, until 1993, when Barbra Streisand, then 51, scored with Back To Broadway, not one artist over the age of 50 topped the chart.

But in the last 16 years, it's become commonplace. Baby boomers are staying connected to the pop scene much longer than their parents ever did. Also, older fans are proving to be the most reliable album buyers. They came of age buying albums and are proving to be the demo most committed to maintaining the habit.

Together Through Life is Dylan's fifth #1 album, following Planet Waves (with The Band), Blood On The Tracks, Desire and Modern Times. Dylan was at his commercial peak from 1965 to 1976, when every studio album he released made the top 10. He hit his commercial nadir from 1986 to 1993, when four of his studio albums didn't even make the top 50.

But things turned around for him in 1997, when he debuted at #10 with Time Out Of Mind. The album, which was his first to crack the top 10 since 1979, went on to win the Grammy for Album of the Year. Dylan has made the top five with all three of his subsequent studio albums.

Together Through Life sold 125,000 copies, the lowest tally for an album in its first week at #1 since Alan Jackson's Good Time debuted in the top spot in March 2008 with sales of 119,000. Dylan's album also debuts at #1 in the U.K. this week. It's his first British #1 since New Morning in late 1970. (New Morning peaked at #7 in the U.S.)

by Paul Grein in Chart Watch