Madonna Returns to Number One on the Charts With ‘Confessions II’

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- Madonna's "Confessions II" debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 134,000 equivalent album units in its first week — her first chart-topping album of the 2020s and her 10th overall.
- The milestone makes Madonna the only artist with at least one #1 album in each of the 1980s, 2000s, 2010s, and now 2020s — a four-decade span stretching back to 1984's "Like a Virgin."
- Madonna joins the Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Drake as just the fourth artist to achieve 10 #1s on both the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100.
- Confessions II mirrors 2005's "Confessions on a Dance Floor," which also debuted at #1; notably, all three of Madonna's 1990s LPs — Erotica, Bedtime Stories, and Ray of Light — missed the top spot.
- Rolling Stone's Rob Sheffield called the album Madonna's "best album in 20 years," describing it as a "64-minute nonstop groove that flows like a club-DJ set" drawing from across dance music history.
- Madonna's previous #1 was 2019's Madame X; her 2012 MDNA also topped the chart, while 2015's Rebel Heart peaked at #2.
Why it matters: Madonna's 10th #1 makes her the only artist to top the Billboard 200 in four consecutive decades, and just the fourth ever — alongside the Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Drake — to land 10 #1s on both the album and singles charts, cementing her as one of the most durable chart forces in pop history.
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