Posted August 22, 200816 yr She is one of the music industry’s most enduring talents, an eclectic, idiosyncratic and enigmatic singer and songwriter, who guards her private life jealously, juggles a recording career with motherhood, and recently celebrated her 50th birthday. But enough about Kate Bush – we’re here to look at the phenomenon that is Madonna, who shares all of the above characteristics with Bush and has enjoyed unparalleled success since she arrived on the recording scene in 1982. Although precocious in many ways, Madonna was something of a late starter as a recording artist, and has still spent less than half her life as a hitmaker. Born Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone in Bay City, Michigan, she is one of a quartet of major stars born within a few weeks of each other in 1958. Prince arrived on June 7, Kate Bush on July 30, Madonna on August 16and Michael Jackson on August 29. Her initial singles, Everybody and Burning Up, were major club hits in America – both reached number three on the Billboard dance chart but fell short of the Hot 100. Third single Holiday’s frivolous, sing-along style won it a much wider audience, and provided her with her introductory Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic, and much of the rest of the globe. On its first visit to the UK chart, in 1984, it peaked at number six. Subsequently reissued in 1985 (when it reached number two) and 1991 (number five), it continues to sell well as a download, and recently became the third song by Madonna to top 0.75m sales here. Madonna has not looked back since Holiday, and has accumulated 64 consecutive hits, all of which made the Top 20. Along the way, she has sold 16.41m singles in Britain – an average of more than 250,000 per release. That is enough for her to rank fourth in the all-time table of top singles artists in the UK, trailing only Cliff Richard (21.21m), The Beatles (20.71m) and Elvis Presley (20.66m). Richard and Presley rarely penned their own songs but for Madonna, writing, or co-writing her hits is part of the process, and in sales terms she is by far the most successful singer/songwriter in UK chart history. She has sold as many singles as the two next most successful female solo artists – Kylie Minogue and Whitney Houston – combined. Runner-up Kylie’s career tally of 9.05m is impressive but, although 10 years Madonna’s junior, she has lost ground on her in the last five years. Here is Music Week's exclusive list of Madonna’s UK hits, ranked by sales. Rank title Sales Hst. Pos. Release year 1 Into The Groove 843561 1 1985 2 Like A Virgin 768129 3 1984 3 Holiday 752968 2 1984 4 Crazy For You 662481 2 1985 5 Papa Don't Preach 629386 1 1986 6 True Blue 534728 1 1986 7 Hung Up 517036 1 2005 8 Beautiful Stranger 513992 2 1999 9 Like A Prayer 513231 1 1989 10 Frozen 508296 1 1998 11 Vogue 484308 1 1990 12 La Isla Bonita 421760 1 1987 13 4 Minutes 400784 1 2005 14 Music 400531 1 2000 15 Material Girl 389999 3 1985 16 American Pie 380937 1 2000 17 Who's That Girl 376498 1 1987 18 Don't Cry For Me Argentina 338494 3 1996 19 You'll See 302432 5 1995 20 Borderline 298388 2 1984 21 Gambler 292341 4 1985 22 Live To Tell 271897 2 1986 23 Erotica 270800 3 1992 24 This Used To Be My Playground 270427 3 1992 25 Ray Of Light 262514 2 1998 26 Dear Jessie 250769 5 1989 27 Causing A Commotion 229934 4 1987 28 Justify My Love 228683 2 1990 29 Hanky Panky 205733 2 1990 30 Dress You Up 204970 5 1985 31 Angel 198650 5 1985 32 Express Yourself 194102 5 1989 33 Cherish 192891 3 1989 34 Open Your Heart 186742 4 1986 35 Don't Tell Me 179939 4 2000 36 Sorry 178963 1 2006 37 The Power Of Good-Bye / Little Star 175095 6 1998 38 Die Another Day 167863 3 2002 39 Deeper And Deeper 136854 6 1992 40 Rescue Me 134764 3 1991 41 Rain 130771 7 1993 42 Nothing Really Matters 128137 7 1999 43 Me Against The Music 126136 2 2003 44 The Look Of Love 121439 9 1987 45 Secret 117957 5 1994 46 Lucky Star 117470 14 1984 47 Take A Bow 102739 16 1994 48 Give It 2 Me 100986 7 2008 49 I'll Remember (Theme From 'With Honours') 100090 7 1994 50 Bedtime Story 97428 4 1995 51 Drowned World (Substitute For Love) 90651 10 1998 52 You Must Love Me 90428 10 1996 53 What It Feels Like For A Girl 86771 7 2001 54 Fever 86077 6 1993 55 Human Nature 80685 8 1995 56 Another Suitcase In Another Hall 75233 7 1997 57 Bad Girl 74915 10 1993 58 American Life 72260 2 2005 59 Get Together 67163 7 2006 60 Hollywood 59633 2 2003 61 Oh Father 58730 16 1996 62 One More Chance 56851 11 1996 63 Jump 52038 9 2006 64 Love Profusion 41025 11 2003 Note: 4 Minutes is by Madonna feat. Justin Timberlake, Me Against the World by Britney Spears feat. Madonna. All others credit only Madonna. Sales include digital downloads, and are complete to midnight on Saturday 15 August 2008, when Madonna’s 50th birthday started. Article by Alan Jones Source: www.musicweek.com
August 22, 200816 yr Author SO THAT WAS THE UK SALES LOOK AT THE US CERTIFICATIONS. Warner Bros. Records and the RIAA have re-certified 4 Minutes 2xp and Hung Up 1xp. 4 Minutes is Madonna's second multi-platinum single. Madonna's RIAA Certified Singles: 80s: 1. Borderline Gold 500,000 2. Like A Virgin Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules 3. Crazy For You Gold 1,000,000 (eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules 4. Angel/Into The Groove Gold 1,000,000 (could be eligible for 1xp) - old certification rules 5. Papa Don't Preach Gold 500,000 6. True Blue Gold 500,000 7. Like A Prayer 1xp 1,000,000 8. Express Yourself Gold 500,000 90s: 9. Keep It Together Gold 500,000 10. Vogue 2xp 2,000,000 11. Hanky Panky Gold 500,000 12. Justify My Love 1xp 1,000,000 13. Rescue Me Gold 500,000 14. This Used To Be My Playground Gold 500,000 15. Erotica Gold 500,000 16. I'll Remember Gold 500,000 17. Secret Gold 500,000 18. Take A Bow Gold 500,000 19. You'll See Gold 500,000 20. You Must Love Me Gold 500,000 21. Frozen Gold 500,000 22. Ray of Light Gold 500,000 00s: 23. Music 1xp 1,000,000 24. Don't Tell Me Gold 500,000 25. Hung Up 1xp 1,000,000 *new* 26. 4 Minutes 2xp 2,000,000 *new* Total: 19.5xp Gold: 26 Platinum: 6 Multi-Platinum: 2 Thanks to Chris Bigham
August 22, 200816 yr Never had a million seller, probably never will. And Get Together and Jump didn't sell very well :( , GT is one of my favourite songs.
August 22, 200816 yr Never had a million seller, probably never will. And Get Together and Jump didn't sell very well :( , GT is one of my favourite songs. I agree, I love Get Together too. They were the third and fourth single releases, so I think that's why they haven't sold well.
August 22, 200816 yr Many mistakes in the year of release in the UK list... 4 Minutes in 2005, American Life 2005, etc.
August 23, 200816 yr are these sales numbers correct for uk???? Taken from Music Week, an official source, so yes ;)
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