Details of the tour, produced globally by Live Nation, will be announced later Thursday (May 8).

Billed as the Sticky and Sweet tour, Madonna's trek in support of her chart-topping Warner Bros. release "Hard Candy" -- which debuted Wednesday (May 7) in the No. 1 position on the Billboard 200 -- will play stadiums in the United Kingdom and Europe through the end of September. Arenas and a "handful" of stadiums in 16 North American markets will follow in October and November, with the period from late November through December devoted to stadiums in Mexico and South America.

Madonna's last three world tours grossed almost $400 million combined. Her 2006 Confessions tour is, at $194 million, the top-grossing tour ever by a female artist.

The upcoming tour is the first major manifestation of the multifaceted 10-year deal between Madonna and Live Nation, valued in published reports at $120 million.

"The reality is she's delivered her last album to Warner Bros., and it's a smash, which is great for everybody," Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music for Live Nation, told Billboard.com. "We now have a tremendous opportunity with a tremendous artist to do all kinds of new and innovative things on many different levels, and this tour will be the start of that rollout."

The tour follows a familiar Madonna touring blueprint in that it visits a limited number of markets in a four-month time frame, with multi-night stands in major cities.

Ticket sale details will be announced Thursday, along with a presale through Live Nation's corporate sponsorship partner Citi. Fogel said that ticket prices will be "basically the same as they've been the past two tours," which means primarily in the $55-$350 range.

Reuters/Billboard

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