Her final Warner studio set is presently outselling its closest challenger, Island act Portishead's appropriately-titled Third album, by more than 50%, while her 4 Minutes collaboration with Justin Timberlake looks a strong bet to spend a third week at the top of the singles chart.

If, as expected, Hard Candy does make number one it will be her 10th such chart-topper, although that calculation does include the 1996 Evita soundtrack, which featured other artists other than Madonna. The Beatles with ...