Madonna’s “Madame X” struck gold on the Billboard 200 chart, landing the icon her ninth number one album atop the list, which the industry tracker will publish in full on Tuesday. Springsteen’s “Western Stars” raced in at second — marking the first time since 1985 that the Queen of Pop and The Boss are reigning over the album chart together. The era saw the two superstars — Madonna is now 60, Springsteen 69 — along with Prince and Michael Jackson usher in the brave new world of MTV, the music video television network that gave albums longer staying power than seen prior. Though the Queen held her own stateside, Springsteen’s dreamy sonic portrait of the American West did beat out “Madame X” in both Australia and Britain. The debut success of the musical titans is expected to be short-lived, however, with industry-watchers predicting the future will return next week with genre-bending country rap star Lil Nas X.

Source: The Guardian June 25, 2019 16:06 UTC