Madonna's "Confessions" Gobbled Up

11/23/2005 6:18 PM, E! Online
David Jenison

As is her wont, Madonna will be stuffing plenty of stockings this holiday season.

The Material Girl scored her third consecutive chart-topper with Confessions on a Dancefloor, selling 350,000 copies in the U.S. for the week ended Sunday, according to Nielsen SoundScan figures.

Thanks to a worldwide marketing blitz backed by MTV, the disc opened at number one in 25 countries, including the U.K., Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Australia and--despite protests over her invocation of a rabbi in the Kabbalah-inspired track "Isaac"--Israel. All told, Confessions moved 4 million copies worldwide, per Warner Bros. Records.

The 47-year-old superstar's previous album, American Life, topped the charts in '03 with a substantially fewer 241,000 copies, and the disc became her first not to yield any Top 10 radio hits. Consequently, Madonna went back to her dance pop roots with Confessions and landed another huge radio hit with the ABBA-sampling "Hung Up," which also topped the singles chart this week.

The current Rolling Stone cover girl, who has already sold more than 250 million career copies, now has three straight number one albums for the second time in her career. Before 2000's Music kicked off the second set of number ones, she had gone 11 years--the entire '90s--without hitting the top spot.

Confessions is also part of a larger streak. Madonna's debut marks the 10th consecutive different album to open at number one on the Billboard 200 in as many weeks, a run that began back in September with Paul Wall's The People's Champ. It beats the previous mark of nine straight weeks of number ones in 2003, of which American Life was a part.

With Madge on top, American Idol babe Carrie Underwood had to settle for the undercard. Her debut disc, Some Hearts, sold 315,000 copies at number two, making her the second straight Idol champ to miss the top spot.

In comparison, season-one champ Kelly Clarkson opened at one, selling 297,000 copies of Breakaway, while season two's Ruben Studdard repeated the feat by selling 416,000 copies of Soulful. Fantasia was the first miss, selling an Idol champ-low 239,000 discs as Free Yourself debuted at number eight late last year.

The country duo Big & Rich landed the next best bow as Comin' To Your City sold 157,000 to open at number seven. Green Day's DVD/CD Bullet in a Bible, filmed by famed video director Samuel Bayer (Nirvana's "Smell's Like Teen Spirit"), followed at eight, selling 92,000.

Last week's Billboard champ, Kenny Chesney, fell to number three as The Road and the Radio roped in 191,000 copies. Meanwhile, Mariah Carey, easily the comeback story of the year, reentered the Top 10 with the "Ultra Platinum Edition" of her red-hot The Emancipation of Mimi. The disc jumped 11 spots to number four, moving 185,000 copies, up from 42,000 the week prior. In its 32nd week on the charts, Emancipation has sold just under 4 million copies in the U.S.

The rest of Top 10 were mainstays: Now That's What I Call Music! 20 at five, the Get Rich or Die Tryin' soundtrack at six, Nickelback's All the Right Reasons at nine and Martina McBride's Timeless reentering at ten.

The Black Eyed Peas' Monkey Business finally dropped from the Top 10 after 24 weeks. The album, which has sold over 2.2 million copies, fell five spots to number 11 on sales of 78,000 copies.

Ginuwine just missed the Top 10 as Back II Da Basics sold 74,000 copies at 12, while Bruce Springsteen hit 18 with 53,000 copies of the three-disc Born To Run: 30th Anniversary Edition. Pitbull's Money Is Still a Major Issue, followed at 25 with 45,000 copies.

Other noteworthy debuts included Jimmy Buffett's Live in Fenway Park at 41, Wilco's Kicking Television: Live in Chicago at 47, Alanis Morissette's The Collection at 51, the Walk the Line soundtrack at 54, Crunk Hits at 55, R. Kelly's Remix City Volume 1 at 72 and the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire soundtrack at 80.

Several country artists also experienced sales bumps from last week's Country Music Association Awards. Keith Urban--who landed hardware for Entertainer and Male Vocalist of the Year--jumped 25 spots to 16 with Be Here. Female Vocalist of the Year winner Gretchen Wilson's All Jacked Up climbed six spots to 30; her Here for the Party was up eight spots to 85. Lee Ann Womack's There's More Where That Came From resurfaced at 155 thanks to her trio of trophies, including Single of the Year for "I Hate Myself in the Morning."

Overall sales topped out at about 13 million units, 10 percent down from this time last year; year to date sales are off 14 percent from 2004.

Here's a recap of last week's Top 10 albums, per Nielsen SoundScan:

1. Confessions on a Dancefloor, Madonna
2. Some Hearts, Carrie Underwood
3. The Road and the Radio, Kenny Chesney
4. The Emancipation of Mimi: Ultra Platinum Edition, Mariah Carey
5. Now That's What I Call Music! 20, various
6. Get Rich or Die Tryin' soundtrack, various
7. Comin' To Your City, Big & Rich
8. Bullet In a Bible, Green Day
9. All The Right Reasons, Nickelback
10. Timeless, Martina McBride