On January 10 1985, Madonna’s Like A Virgin single was certified gold for shipment of 1 million units.
Prior to January 1 1989, the certification thresholds were Gold (1,000,000 units), and Platinum (2,000,000 units) in the USA (Recording Industry Association of America).
On December 22 1985, John “Jellybean” Benitez’ Sidewalk Talk (featuring Madonna) debuted at #48 on the Billboard Hot Dance/Disco chart (not to be confused with the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Single Sales chart). The hit dance single peaked at #1 on the Dance/Disco chart on February 2 1986.
Sidewalk Talk was written by Madonna, arranged by Jellybean and Stephen Bray and mixed by Jellybean.
On October 5 1985, Dress You Up peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.
The song also spent the first of a four-week run at #1 on the 12-inch Singles Sales chart and peaked at #3 on the Club Play chart in the same issue.
On October 3 1985, Geffen Records released Gambler as a single in Europe. It was the second Madonna single released from the Vision Quest soundtrack.
Concerned about potential overexposure, Warner Brothers successfully managed to suppress a North American release of the track, although the music video was serviced to MTV. It was issued as a single in most other major markets – including Japan, Australasia & South America.
Gambler was written by Madonna, produced by Jellybean Benitez and arranged by Stephen Bray. Extended and instrumental remixes by Benitez were also issued commercially outside North America.
On August 30 1985, Madonna’s Like A Virgin album spent a third week at #2 on the UK Albums Chart.
On August 10 1985, Madonna appeared on the cover of TV Guide.
On July 23 1985, Into The Groove was released as a single in the UK.
Not wanting to draw more attention away from the Like A Virgin album following the release of the soundtrack hit Crazy For You, Sire/Warner notoriously relegated Into The Groove to the b-side of the Angel 12″ single in North America & Australia, although they eventually ceded to issuing it as an A-side in most other international territories.
Into The Groove was written & produced by Madonna & Stephen Bray and was their first released co-production to not be reworked by an outside producer (the pair had already been producing their own demos for years). The original demo version was used over the closing credits of Desperately Seeking Susan (seemingly dubbed from an actual cassette copy of the demo–granted, DAT’s were still a few years away), and although the commercially released mix featured a slightly beefed-up and more polished-sounding musical backing track, it kept Madonna’s original demo vocals intact.
In the UK, and throughout most of Europe, the single was backed by the Madonna-penned ballad Shoo-Bee-Doo, while the original album version of Everybody (another song credited to her alone) rounded out the 12″ single…it would be fair to assume that Madonna likely earned some of the biggest single-generated songwriting royalty cheques of her career thus far with this release. It’s interesting to note that despite being one of Madonna’s most enduring dance floor classics, no remixes were produced for Into The Groove at the time of its release. It wasn’t until 1987’s You Can Dance remix compilation that the song finally received an official extended remix treatment.
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