Image Credit: Mert+Marcus

You gave her all your luvin’, gave her your luv – and now Madonna is sitting pretty atop the Billboard 200, for the eighth time!

Madge’s latest album, MDNA, sold 359,000 copies in its first week, which was well ahead of her last effort (2008′s Hard Candy started with 280,000), and the pop star’s best sales week since her successful 2000 set Music bowed with 420,000.

MDNA marks Madonna’s fifth straight No. 1 debut; if she can keep up the momentum and manage one more, she will tie Barbra Streisand as the female artist with the most chart-topping albums. (Streisand, who turns 70 this month, has had nine.)

Interestingly, Madonna achieved these MDNA numbers without a hit single currently making waves. The first track released from MDNA, “Give Me All Your Luvin’,” a cheer-pop dance tune featuring Nicki Minaj and M.I.A., debuted at No. 10 on the Hot 100 but quickly faded. Her followup, “Girl Gone Wild,” is just now beginning its run. So what’s behind her big sales uptick? First off, her performance during the Super Bowl halftime show put Madonna in front of 113 million(!) viewers. On top of that, U.S. ticket buyers for Madonna’s upcoming world tour had the option of receiving a copy of MDNA with their purchase; a similar strategy helped propel both Bon Jovi’s Lost Highway and Tom Petty’s Mojo to No. 1. READ FULL STORY »