wizzywick

Yes. I too used WOWHD and paid £11.99. My CD was on backorder status for a day and was dispatched on Tuesday 10th March. I received it on Friday 13th March. Everything was fine. I do believe though that WOW source the cheapest products and you may get any version with the tracklisting advertised. You may get a German version, a US version or a UK version. This may explain your delay. 

#  1
http://www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm
315,000  ww  1st week  Hot Shot Debut  

I really much preferred it when she wasn't on social media at all. One of the greatest things about being a Madonna fan was the enigma, the sense of authority you got when other celebs were telling us they were having beans on toast on twitter, Madonna kept quiet. It kept us all in awe and anticipation. I wish she would close down her instagram account because it is making her just like any other celeb. 
 
Like yourself, I hated the teases on instagram. It made it feel like the album was released months ago and it took away the excitement that a newly released Madonna album brings. 

Over the years my prospective of M was that she was a goddess. Almost like an amazing enigma something holy and untouchable. Someone that most people put in there mind's up on a pedestal. A star above all star's. Like this magical creature that when you see it blows your mind and amazes you. How special you would feel in her presence. like it was an honor. social media ( instagram ) has destroyed this my Queen in now human, flesh and blood almost pathetic. Every other week taking selfies in the bathroom mirror. Talking about things that she need not comment on teasing us with song titles and stupid sock puppets. Instagram has destroyed the mystique that was so alluring about my queen.

I really much preferred it when she wasn't on social media at all. One of the greatest things about being a Madonna fan was the enigma, the sense of authority you got when other celebs were telling us they were having beans on toast on twitter, Madonna kept quiet. It kept us all in awe and anticipation. I wish she would close down her instagram account because it is making her just like any other celeb. 
 
Like yourself, I hated the teases on instagram. It made it feel like the album was released months ago and it took away the excitement that a newly released Madonna album brings. 

It's not really hindsight though. In june 2014 I was like "please stop teasing this album on instagram!!", the reason was that there was so much expectation on music forums, blogs, etc, how could it not die down by the time it actually came out? especially with the We Are Superstars fiasco. She shouldn't tease an album again, in fact she shouldn't use social media much in between albums, that also decreases the demand for her as a person. 
 
The album isn't perfect by any means, but it should've done better. Then again American Life is a great album and it didn't do well either. I suppose Rebel Heart is pretty much the new American Life in a way. Fan favourite, but without interest from the public, and too much negativity and second-guessing around the release.

Of course. I agree. But to use the word underwhelm suggests it isn't very good, whereas to describe it as under-performing would have been more appropriate. It is kinda sad though isn't it? The amount of effort she put in to the album, and for it to not set the sales world on fire must be disappointing for her. I do wonder if she somehow inadvertently led more people to download the album illegally by all the teases and all the instagram messages that were clearly designed to hype up the anticipation? The more you tease, the more you'll be bitten! Perhaps fans were overly impatient and wanted to hear it immediately due to how much enticing she'd done in the lead up? Of course, it isn't her fault, hindsight is curious thing, but had the album not leaked, had the instagram disasters not occurred, had Ghosttown been the lead single, had we all been hearing the album as virgins upon release, then I do wonder whether we would be looking at something far more phenomenal. It will be interesting at the latter part of the year, to see exactly, how many fans (if you can call them that - if you're a fan buy her bloody music, don't steal it!) downloaded the album when it leaked.

Another example of Interscope's incompetence when it comes to their research on how international charts work, and the release of the pointless 14 track standard.
 
In the UK, streams are counted by basing the (up to) 12 most streamed tracks on STANDARD VERSIONS of albums only! No one is streaming the standard version, so all her streams from the deluxe are not counted. This explains why her stream points (divided by 1000 in order to balance the strongest/hit songs of an album so unfair inflation isn't created) were just a measly 416.  
 
And, at this moment in time, Rebel Heart has dropped 5 places in the UK Midweeks to number 7. More promotion and perhaps a UK exclusive is needed if the album is to stand a chance here.
 
And, in other news, the first full week of French sales for Rebel Heart, equated to just 8,300.

Sam is the male Adele right now! He has a lot of radio support and a recent big winner of Grammys and Brits awards.
A #2 behind the current it thing is nothing to sneer at. After more than 30 years in the game she can still debut in the top 2. And seriously for an album that's been out since December in various forms and states, it's really not bad. Ultimately what matters is that she has given us an amazing album in Rebel Heart. Let's just celebrate, enjoy the album and look forward to the RH tour!

Thinking on it, does anyone else think the album photography is a bit, well, random? The rope concept is awesome yet nowhere else in the booklet is it featured at all. it should have had a more prominent purpose. Instead you get an image of her giving herself the Stigmata, a few with her baps looking pretty nice and her being sexy, one while she's wearing leopard skin knickers looking seductive and a few random images that don't really relate to anything! Perhaps I'm being picky, but it all seems a bit disjointed. CoaDF had superb photography, it all made sense and continued the flow of the album cover. As did Hard Candy.  

BIB: physical copies will always be needed and wanted. You can't exactly wrap up a download as a gift can you? I hate people telling me that physical copies are not bought anymore. Give me a decent bloody outlet inwhich to buy albums and I'll buy them! (Not a dig at you stfan97, it is just me ranting!).

I think that Madonna's distribution team have well and truly screwed up. Stores in UK are selling Standard version only. Yet, all promo of the album is showing the deluxe cover. So, if anyone who is wanting the album is looking for the deluxe cover but can't find it, they might think the standard is a different album, after all it looks like the early 1990's Madonna on the cover ,so may avoid buying it. I don't for a minute think no one wants the album. Part of the problem is that they can't actually buy the one they want. Plus, in the UK the demise of record stores plays a significant factor in the sales of artists like Madonna who are not local, who rarely release music and have limited outlets now to sell their records. After all, not everyone wants to download or order from Amazon.  

Thinking on it, does anyone else think the album photography is a bit, well, random? The rope concept is awesome yet nowhere else in the booklet is it featured at all. it should have had a more prominent purpose. Instead you get an image of her giving herself the Stigmata, a few with her baps looking pretty nice and her being sexy, one while she's wearing leopard skin knickers looking seductive and a few random images that don't really relate to anything! Perhaps I'm being picky, but it all seems a bit disjointed. CoaDF had superb photography, it all made sense and continued the flow of the album cover. As did Hard Candy.  

I don't think anyone agreed to it, I think it was forced upon her for Interscope to make more money.  Didn't Guy promise in the Twitter chat in December that the regular edition would have 19 tracks?  But I agree that not being able to find the deluxe cover is confusing.  It was confusing enough for fans to figure out what was going on with all of the different versions, since there is no accurate, official information.
 
I think the album was severely undershipped for whatever reason.  Even if people insist that no one buys physical albums any more, I refuse to believe there are only 4 people in any major metropolitan area who will buy a new Madonna album.  The fact that I had to go to 4 stores to find the last copy tells me there's SOME interest, greater than what they estimated.

I guess one thing we can be grateful for is that when Interscope purchased the Live Nation album distribution rights for $40m in 2011, it was for three albums. So, I assume we'll get one more album possibly Autumn 2017/Spring 2018 under the deal, just before she's 60, and then I predict she'll just become a free will artist, after all she'll be able to do what ever she wants at that stage. Interscope ballsed up with MDNA, and they ballsed up with Rebel Heart. Chances are they'll balls up with her next record too but they'll only be interested in making their $40m back. 

It's crazy isn't it? They should have had one version and one version only in the shops and the deluxe should always have been the standard. Having three versions with three different covers was a silly thing to agree to. Quite often when Madonna releases a new album, stores display other Madonna albums alongside it. This might explain why my sister was telling me that Sainsbury's had sold out. They had plenty of her old albums, she said, but none of the new ones. I checked Sainsbury's the next day and they were selling the standard and Celebration. There clearly is interest in Madonna because after The Brits, the album Celebration sprung from nowhere to number 38 in the album charts.

I think that Madonna's distribution team have well and truly screwed up. Stores in UK are selling Standard version only. Yet, all promo of the album is showing the deluxe cover. So, if anyone who is wanting the album is looking for the deluxe cover but can't find it, they might think the standard is a different album, after all it looks like the early 1990's Madonna on the cover ,so may avoid buying it. I don't for a minute think no one wants the album. Part of the problem is that they can't actually buy the one they want. Plus, in the UK the demise of record stores plays a significant factor in the sales of artists like Madonna who are not local, who rarely release music and have limited outlets now to sell their records. After all, not everyone wants to download or order from Amazon.  

I think that Madonna's distribution team have well and truly screwed up. Stores in UK are selling Standard version only. Yet, all promo of the album is showing the deluxe cover. So, if anyone who is wanting the album is looking for the deluxe cover but can't find it, they might think the standard is a different album, after all it looks like the early 1990's Madonna on the cover ,so may avoid buying it. I don't for a minute think no one wants the album. Part of the problem is that they can't actually buy the one they want. Plus, in the UK the demise of record stores plays a significant factor in the sales of artists like Madonna who are not local, who rarely release music and have limited outlets now to sell their records. After all, not everyone wants to download or order from Amazon.