The Queen of Pop is back on top.
Today, Billboard announced Madonna‘s ninth studio album, Madame X, is this week’s number-one record on the magazine’s Top 200. Madonna has the second-most number-one albums for a female artist in history, behind only Barbra Streisand, who has 11.
Of the 95,000 album equivalents counted, 90,000 were album sales. Madonna beat Bruce Springsteen‘s latest, Western Stars. This is the first time they’ve been in the top two together since 1985, when Like a Virgin and Born in the U.S.A were duking it out for the top spot.
The times have changed since Madonna first started putting out records in 1983. How exactly are album sales measured for purposes such as this?
Per Billboard:
The Billboard 200 chart ranks the most popular albums of the week in the U.S. based on multi-metric consumption as measured in equivalent album units. Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). The new June 29-dated chart, where Madame X bows at No. 1, will be posted in full on Billboard‘s websites on June 25.
Overall, Madame X’s debut sum of 95,000 equivalent album units is comprised of 90,000 in album sales, 1,000 in TEA units and 4,000 in SEA units.
Many of Madonna’s Madame X sales came from ticket bundles sold for her upcoming theatre tour. Also, Madonna’s website has featured many merch and album bundles.
No matter how you measure it, this is a major win and comeback for Madonna. Here’s to nine more!
For more on this Madonna milestone, head over to Billboard.
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