Madonna is undoubtedly in a class of her own.
The singer, 67, made history after her recently-released album Confessions II topped the Billboard 200 chart — the 10th No. 1 that the Queen of Pop has earned throughout her illustrious career.
Madonna is the only artist aside from The Beatles who has earned 10 No. 1 albums on the Billboard chart.
Confessions II, which dropped on July 3, is Madonna’s highly anticipated follow-up to 2005’s Confessions on a Dance Floor.
“I was supposed to make a movie about my life. I worked on my script for two years and spent two years at Universal Studios with the line producers doing budgeting and casting. We had a falling out, me and Universal, regarding budget,” Madonna told Interview magazine last month, revealing how she decided to return to the recording studio. “I’ve had an extraordinary life. I’ve had a huge life, so I needed a big budget.”
As Madonna sought other ways to fulfill her creative streak, she contacted former collaborator Stuart Price.
“I thought the world is in a very dark place and people need to dance. I hadn’t worked with Stuart for a long time,” she recalled to the outlet. “We’d just done the Celebration Tour together, but besides that, I didn’t really see or speak to him for probably 15 years. I was living in New York and I reached out to him, thinking, “What if we tried to make Confessions on a Dance Floor: Part II, and reenter the world of inspirational dance music?” So I came to London and went to his studio, and we were just playing around to see if there was magic between us.”
The spark between Madonna and the producer was still there, soon crafting a slate of dance that felt “good” amid a series of personal struggles.
“I went through all this darkness in the beginning, writing these songs with Stuart, and then we went full circle, and I’m like, ‘Okay, now what happens? How do we get out of this?’” she quipped. “What happens when you walk into a nightclub or walk onto the dance floor or go to a rave? [Life] can be [heavy], but I always push through and I’m a survivor.”
Madonna celebrated her album, and its incredible Billboard feat, with a “Club Confessions” pop-up in New York City presented by MISTR on Saturday, July 11. During the event, the pop icon performed “School” and “One Step Away” for the crowd.
