Madonna has announced she's kicking off her Sticky and Sweet world tour in the UK.

The pop icon is to play Cardiff's Millennium Stadium on August 23, and will take the stage at Wembley Stadium further down the schedule, on September 11.

Her latest album, Hard Candy, has proved a hit back home as well as the UK, entering the US album charts at Number 1.

It is the Material Girl's seventh chart-topper. The only female artist who has more is Barbra Streisand, with eight.

Earlier this week, Hard Candy became the pop icon's tenth number one album in the UK, as her single Four Minutes, featuring Justin Timberlake, clung on to the singles chart's top spot for a third week.

It is the fourth time in her career that Madonna has occupied the summits of both charts simultaneously. Four Minutes is her 13th number one single.

The 49-year-old has been performing a series of private concerts in New York and Paris to help mark Hard Candy's launch - with the last to be held in London on May 11.

Tickets for Sticky and Sweet world tour shows go on sale from 9am, May 16.

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