Today in Madonna History: May 11, 1985

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On May 11 1985, Crazy For You hit number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S. for one week. The track had spent the two previous weeks in the runner-up position behind the all-star single, We Are The World. In Canada, Crazy For You took a few weeks longer but also managed to displace USA For Africa’s charity track to become the county’s number-one single on May 25th.

The song was Madonna’s second chart-topping hit, and her first ballad to be released as a single.

Today in Madonna History: April 29, 1995

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On April 29, 1995, Bedtime Story peaked at #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S.

Released as the follow-up to the longest-running U.S. #1 single of her career (Take A Bow), Madonna & Warner Bros. likely hoped that the momentum would carry over to the cutting-edge Björk penned title track. Despite a respectable reception in Europe (in the U.K. it performed better than Take A Bow) and significant buzz generated by its music video, Bedtime Story proved to be too unconventional for radio in North America, where it became her first fully promoted single to miss the Top 40 since Burning Up in 1983. It fared no better in Canada, peaking at #46 on May 1st, 1995.

The remixes for Bedtime Story, however, were a hit with North American D.J.’s and earned Madonna another #1 on Billboard’s Hot Dance/Club Play chart.

Today in Madonna History: April 20, 1991

On April 20 1991, Rescue Me peaked at #3 on the UK Singles Chart after making its debut at #4 the previous week. It slid to #5 in its third week before falling out of the Top 10.

Rescue Me was the third single release from The Immaculate Collection in the UK, where it was issued in between re-releases of Crazy For You and Holiday.

Because the photo on international pressings of Rescue Me had already graced the cover of the Crazy For You reissue, Warner UK chose to market the single using an alternate shot taken from Jean-Baptiste Mondino’s June 1990 spread in Harper’s Bazaar. Ironically, the international Rescue Me cover photo was snapped on the set of the Mondino-directed music video for Justify My Love, although not by Mondino himself. It was instead photographed by another (future) Madonna music video director, Stephane Sednaoui.

Today in Madonna History: April 1, 2012

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On April 1 2012, Madonna achieved her 12th UK #1 album with MDNA, overtaking Elvis Presley as the solo artist with the most chart-topping albums of all-time in the UK.

Today in Madonna History: February 7, 2007

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On February 7 2007, Madonna’s live CD/DVD set The Confessions Tour bowed in the Billboard 200 album chart at #15 in the U.S. with sales of 40,000 copies. Its first week sales were nearly double the opening numbers of her previous live release, 2006’s I’m Going To Tell You A Secret, which had peaked at #33. It was Madonna’s 18th Top 20 album in the U.S.

Meanwhile, on the Canadian album charts The Confessions Tour entered at #2, also besting Secret which had peaked at #4.

Today in Madonna History: January 25, 1986

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On January 25 1986, Borderline re-entered the UK Singles Chart at #15.

The re-release of the single was loosely linked with the promotion of the European reissue of Madonna’s debut album, which was repackaged in September 1985 with new artwork under the title, The First Album.

After reaching an initial peak of #56 on the UK Singles chart in 1984, the re-release of Borderline proved to be much more successful, peaking at #2 on February 15, 1986.

Today in Madonna History: January 22, 1983

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On January 22 1983, Madonna’s Everybody peaked on Billboard’s Bubbling Under singles chart in the U.S., spending the first of three consecutive weeks at #107. Although the song managed to bubble under for a total of eight weeks, it didn’t gain enough support from mainstream radio to break into the Hot 100.