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

Madonna returned to the top of the charts for the first time this decade as her Confessions II opened at Number One on the Billboard 200.

Over 20 years after Confessions on a Dance Floor ruled the charts, Confessions II similarly debuted in the top spot, moving 134,000 equivalent albums in its first week of release. This Number One marks the first time Madonna has ruled the album charts in the 2020s

Beginning with 1984’s Like a Virgin, Madonna has now landed 10 albums at Number One — and the only artist with at least one Number One in the 1980s, 2000s, 2010s, and now 2020s (shockingly, her 1990s LPs Erotica, Bedtime Stories, and Ray of Light all missed the top spot) — as well as becomes just the fourth artist to rack up 10 Number Ones on both the Billboard 200 and the Hot 100; only the Beatles, Taylor Swift, and Drake achieved that prior to the Material Girl, Billboard reports.

Madonna last grabbed Number One with her 2019 album Madame X, her second Number One of the 2010s; while 2012’s MDNA hit the top spot, 2015’s Rebel Heart peaked at Number Two.

Landing the top spot is just a bonus for Confessions II, which Rolling Stone called Madonna’s “best album in 20 years.”

“It’s a 64-minute nonstop groove that flows like a club-DJ set, each song fading into the next, drawing from all over the history of dance music,” Rob Sheffield wrote in his review. “You might hear a flicker of ‘I Feel Love’ here, or ‘Apache’ there, but it’s a history lesson that she turns into her musical autobiography.”