Madonna is one of the top-selling musicians of all time, but sales don’t mean what they used to these days. When streaming took over the music industry several years ago, some legendary acts were able to translate their success to new platforms, while others didn’t quite make the jump. Madonna is one of a number of beloved acts who manages to regularly perform well when it comes to both purchases and plays on sites like Spotify, and that ability is clear on the U.K. charts this week.
At the moment, Madonna has two albums present on the U.K. rankings. Each title only lives on one list, and neither are currently surging—but which roster they appear on says something about how the pop icon exists in today’s changing musical world.
Finally Enough Love is still present on the Official Albums Streaming chart this week. The compilation of some of Madonna’s biggest singles—and remixes of many of them—dips a few rungs to No. 98, as it barely holds on. The set continually racks up enough plays of the smashes featured on its tracklist that it ranks among the most-streamed full-lengths in the U.K.
At the same time, Madonna returns to another roster. Her The Immaculate Collection is back on the Official Album Downloads chart. The compilation lands at No. 100—in last place—on the list of the bestselling albums, specifically on download sites like iTunes.
Madonna is the very rare pop musician who has been working for decades and is still able to reach audiences in the current day across platforms. Some artists excel on streaming outlets, or perhaps their fans rush to buy their latest songs and albums. It’s not often that any names who got their start back in the ‘80s (or before) can still regularly perform well across both metrics to this day.
At the moment, neither of Madonna’s charting albums are performing especially well, but that’s not what’s notable about her presence on the tallies. The fact that she’s there at all, and that her music is both selling and streaming steadily in the U.K., is worthy of applause, as the Grammy winner may be alone in that feat.