Madonna Tops Elvis with 12th U.K. #1

Madonna landed her 12th U.K. Number 1 album on Sunday, April 1 with “MDNA” to overtake Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most chart-topping albums in the market.

Madonna’s span of album bestsellers began in September 1985, when “Like A Virgin” climbed to the summit, ten months after it first charted. She achieved two further No. 1 albums in the 1980s, three in the 1990s (including the “Evita” soundtrack, which also featured other artists), and five in the 2000s. She now pulls clear of Presley’s collection of 11 titles. “MDNA” sold 56,000 copies last week, according to the Official Charts Company.

In the good old U.S.ofA. Elvis has had no less than 149 songs to appear on Billboard’s Hot 100 Pop Chart. Of these, 114 were in the top forty, 40 were in the top ten, and 18 went to number one. His number one singles spent a total of 80 weeks in the top spot. He has also had over 90 charted albums with ten of them reaching number one. These figures are only for the pop charts and only in America. He was also a leading artist in the country, R&B, and gospel fields, and his chart success in other countries, such as the U.K. was substantial.