Radiant Madonna celebrates her 50th birthday at a London nightclub with husband Guy by her side

Madonna celebrated her 50th birthday in style last night as she attended a party thrown in her honour with husband Guy Ritchie.

The couple were all smiles as they arrived at the Volstead club in London's West End.

Protective Guy held onto his wife's arms as they headed into the venue.

Madonna - wearing thigh boots, a partially transparent chiffon dress and her Kabbalah bracelet - looked positively radiant as she smiled for photographers.

Birthday bash: Madonna and Guy Ritchie arrive at the Volstead Nightclub in London where the pop star celebrated her 50th

The night before the couple had attended a service at a Kabbalah centre in Marylebone.

Perhaps the Queen of Pop was giving thanks for her glittering career or maybe she was praying for Mercy, the little girl whom she is hoping to adopt from Malawi.

Earlier this week the Mail learned that Ritchie, keen to give his wife the ultimate birthday gift, has given in to her demands to adopt a second Malawian child.

Helping hand: Guys leads his wife - who recently hurt her ankle - into the club

Guy Ritchie and Madonna - flashing an out-of-date tax disc - leave the Kabbalah service in Marylebone

Many of the marital difficulties the couple have experienced over the past year have surrounded the singer's determination to adopt again, and Guy's refusal to give in.

Yet rather than lose his wife for good, the Snatch director has agreed to go ahead with adopting three-year-old Mercy James. Madonna and Ritchie have already adopted Malawian child David Banda and the singer has two other children, a son, Rocco, and a daughter Lourdes.

According to Guinness World Records, Madonna is the most successful female solo artist, selling around 120 million albums and 40 million singles - a combined total of more than any other female.

Long live the Queen: Madonna dominated pop music in the Eighties and Nineties and her various, now iconic, looks launched a thousand copycat styles

In the Eighties she was the peroxide punky rebel that sang about virginal sex, materialism and having illegitimate children.

Although she wasn't the most beautiful singer around, she oozed raw sex appeal, a powerful asset that she harnessed throughout her various images in the Nineties from the iconic coned corset on her Blonde Ambition tour in 1990 to her raunchy Sex book and video.

In the Naughties she continued to court controversy with her 'lesbian' kiss with Britney Spears and more recently with her adoption of David Banda.

Rainbow family: Madonna with her daughter Lourdes, nine, son Rocco, six, and adopted son David Banda, 13 months

And despite turning 50, it doesn't look like she's planning on slowing down anytime soon. The pop star, who is renowned for her super-fit and yoga-toned body, is preparing for her Sticky And Sweet world tour.

To mark her special day, MSN entertainment polled more than 1,200 Madge fans who named Like A Prayer as her best song of all time. The album of the same name also topped the poll as Madonna's best.