US Charts: Madonna & Justin Bieber Score Huge Debuts

The cover of Madonna's 'M.D.N.A.' album.

Mixed reviews didn’t prevent Madonna and Justin Bieber from launching onto the Billboard charts with massive debuts. Really, it appears that the magnitude of their respective fanbases have propelled them to near unstoppable status.

‘M.D.N.A’ has become Madonna’s 8th chart-topping studio album on the Billboard 200. The sold an impressive 359K copies to secure the Pop icon the peak position on the lineup and yielded her best opening week figures since her ‘Music’ LP in 2000, which entered the Billboard 200 with 420K copies sold.

Madonna has now garnered a #1 album in 3 separate decades – 1980-1989, 2000-2009 and 2010-2019. There only period in her career that didn’t include a summit-snatching release was the 1990s during which Madonna scored 5 #2 albums. Read my review of ‘M.D.N.A.’ here!

Meanwhile, Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’ has entered the Billboard Hot 100 at #2. The record has sold over 521K downloads with the 2nd-best opening digital sales in US history, following Flo Rida’s ‘Right Round’, which sold 636K downloads in 2009.

Bieber recently explained the Hip-Hop sound of ‘Boyfriend’ during an interview with ‘The Breakfast Club’. According to the the 18-year old, he was simply “pulling” from Urban culture to score a hit with an older audience.

See the leading releases in the top 10 of both Billboard 200 and the Hot 100 below:

Billboard 200

1. Madonna – ‘M.D.N.A.’ – 359K (debut)

2. Lionel Richie - ‘Tuskegee’ – 199K (debut)

3. Adele – ’21′ – 121K (total: 8.49 M)

4. Shinedown - ‘Amaryllis’ – 106K (debut)

5. Various Artists – ‘The Hunger Games’ – 64K (total: 239K)

6. One Direction – ‘Up All Night’ – 46K (total: 277K)

7. Katy Perry – ‘Teenage Dream’ – 33K (includes ‘Complete Confection sales)

8. The Used - ‘Vulnerable’ – 32K (debut)

9. Bruce Springsteen – ‘Wrecking Ball’ – 28K (total: 320K)

10. Various Artists – ‘Now 41′ – 25K (total: 572K)

Billboard Hot 100

1. fun. – ‘We are Young (Ft. Janelle Monae)’

2. Justin Bieber – ‘Boyrfriend’

3. Gotye’s – ‘Somebody That I Used to Know (Ft. Kimbra)’

4. The Wanted – ‘Glad You Came’

5. Kelly Clarkson – ‘Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)’

6. Nicki Minaj – ‘Starships’

7. Flo Rida – ‘Wild Ones (Ft. Sia)’

8. Katy Perry – ‘Part of Me’

9. One Direction – ‘What Makes You Beautiful’

10. Carly Rae Jepsen – ‘Call Me Maybe’

Listen to Bieber’s ’ Boyfriend‘ below:

Thoughts?