The immaculate guide to 50 years of Madonna
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
Thanks to Tony